Jainism and plant life animal life

Query: Jainism accepts plants have life. A vegetarian cannot avoid killing plants. If one can kill plants without incurrring sin why not kill animals also? What is the difference between plant life and animal life ?

Vijay Kumar:
Anything that is consumed for the existence of life does not incur sin. Everything that involves killing for the purpose of enjoyment does incur sin.

The people living in tundra region are exclusively non vegetarians... they should fundamentally be carrying most sins as the burden of life but the truth is otherwise. The people of the tundra region kill for maintaining their livelihood. They never indulge in pastimes that involves killing of animals for the sake of pleasure.

It is true that plant life has an element of the same atman soul that exists in every human being. Similar is the case with animal life. Yet, all killings for the sake of meals are justified in the house of God. That is how the theory of evolution works.

At the time when there were only Adam and Eve... the indulgence between them was not an affair. They neither had the relationship of husband and wife, nor of brother and sister. They were what they were.

As life progressed they had children. The children of Adam and Eve definitely as per the definition of today were brothers and sisters. But the theory of evolution was governing. For the sake of progeny... these children of Adam and Eve indulged themselves and this led to the humanity as we see it today.

What was sacred thousands of years ago would be considered evil today. As science and humanity progressed... the human values changed their meaning.

Animal life is much further ahead of plant life. Killing an animal would incur almost 10~100 times more potential sin then making a plant lose its life.

Similarly killing a human being may incur 100~1000 more potential sin than killing an animal.

The whole chronology has to be understood in terms of evolution and the pace of change in the society. What may be an acceptable norm today... may become totally unacceptable tomorrow.

If one indulges in eating meat today... one is not directly incurring a sin yet, everything depends upon the circumstances which led to the killing of the animal.

If the animal killed had siblings to take care... then definitely consuming such meat would incur nominal sin but the person... the killer would incur enormous sin.

Killing a stray animal for the sake of livelihood would not incur any sin.

In the society as of today when we have vegetarian food available all over... consumption of non vegetarian meals must be avoided at all costs as somewhere directly or indirectly one can definitely incur some sin.

Also compared to animal life, the plant life is totally at the mercy of human beings and also animal life. Killing such plants definitely results in incurring some sin. The need in all cases is vital. All killings whether of plant life or animal life without the need definitely incurs sin!

The situation of plant life as of today compared to human beings is like comparing a student of 12th standard with one in second.

We just cannot ignore indulgence of this student of 12th standard with the student of second standard. The might would always rule the right in such cases. It is compassion and compassion alone that would make the student of 12th standard forgive the one younger to him.

As a human being knowing well that we are much ahead of plant and animal life in the evolutionary phase of life... we have but to leave both these categories to their willed end. As we would always love to forgive a child... we must leave the plant and animal life to their willed fate. Why indulge in killing them for the sake of our pleasure.

Truly speaking one must look forward to every plant in the same light as an elder would behave with a young kid remembering all the time that in our past in one of our manifestations we had been at the same level as of that plant.

In the cosmic game of life... one reaches the level of a human being after having lived a total of 7.3 million lives in form of an insect, a plant and animal life. In the human form alone we have 1.1 million types of manifestations.

This total crux of cosmic life of 8.4 million manifestations is required to be covered in an average life span of 96.4 million earthly years... a long journey indeed!

Every facet of life we come across in our lives today is a reflection of our past. Why indulge in activities that would lower our esteem in our own eyes.

Every form of life was built by God... every life has a right to live. The game of life and death is but a part of cosmic life. For the sake of livelihood every human being has a right to defend himself. It is the cosmic analogy of the survival of the fittest that makes the whole world go round. Kill... not for the sake of pleasure but livelihood should be our motto!

Always there to clarify your queries (send your query),

Vijay Kumar "Atma Jnani" Vijay Kumar... The Man who Realized God in 1993 on Jainism and Plant Life. For more on jainism and plant life visit - jainism and plant life

Full text of query: According to Jainism vegeterianism is a very important part of the life of a true Jain. However Jainism accepts that even plants have life. A vegetarian cannot avoid killing plants. So if one can kill plants without incurrring sin why not kill animals also? What is the difference between plant life and animal life ?