posted February 14, 2008 10:02 AM         

The young prince was overwhelmed with compassion. Arriving at the wedding chamber, he spoke with the father of the princess. "Immediately and unconditionally all those animals enclosed to be slaughtered for the marriage feast must be freed," he said. "Why?" responded the father. "The lives of animals are there for the pleasure of humans. Animals are our slaves and our meat. How can there be any feast without the flesh?!"

Prince Parshwanath was puzzled. He could not believe what he had just heard. He exclaimed, "Animals have souls, they have consciousness, they are our kith and kin, they are our ancestors. They wish to live as much as we do; they have feelings and emotions. They have love and passion; they fear death as much as we do. Their instinct for life is no less than ours. Their right to live is as fundamental as our own. I cannot marry, I cannot love and I cannot enjoy life if animals are enslaved and killed." Without further ado he rejected the plans for his marriage, he discarded the comfortable life of a prince, and he responded to his inner calling to go out and awaken the sleepy masses who had been conditioned to think selfishly and kill animals for their pleasure and comfort.

According to the story, the animal kingdom welcomes Parshwanath as the prophet of the weak and the wild. They gather around him when he calls for kindness. The birds sit upon the tree nearby; fishes come to the corner of the lake where Parshwanath is seated. Elephants, lions, foxes, rabbits, rats, insects, and ants pay homage to him. One day, finding Parshwanath being soaked by the heavy rain of the monsoon, the king of the cobras stood on his tail and created an umbrella with his huge head.

Thousands upon thousands of people in villages, towns and cities are moved by the teachings of Parshwanath. They renounce meat and take up the work of animal welfare. The princess whom Parshwanath was going to marry was so inspired that she decided to remain unmarried and dedicate herself to the care of animals. Having lost a daughter and would-be son-in-law to the cause of animal compassion, the King himself underwent anguish and yet experienced transformation. He announced that all animals were to be respected in his kingdom, and that there would be no hunting, no shooting, no caging and no pets.

There are twenty-four Great Liberators in the Jain Lineage. Adinath was the first. Parshwanath was the twenty-third. Such Liberators are called tirthankaras. The twenty-fourth was Mahavir who lived 2,600 years ago. He revived the Jain religion as it is practiced today. All the twenty-four Great Liberators have an animal associated with them, symbolizing that in Jain teachings the place of animals is central. Love is not love if it does not include love of animals, according to Jain teachings. What kind of compassion is it which adores and reveres human life, but ignores the slaughter of animals?

Division between humans and animals and putting human interests before animal interests is the beginning of sectionalism, racism, nationalism, class and caste discrimination, and of course speciesism. The same mindset, which enslaves animals, goes on to enslave humans in the name of self-interest, national interest, and umpteen other narrow interests.
Therefore we, the Jains, advocate an unconditional and unequivocal reverence for all life".

posted February 15, 2008 02:12 PM         

The truth is pure and simple, and the mind is a matrix.

Love will win over in the end!!!

posted February 15, 2008 03:07 PM         

quote:

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It’s worth noting that the percentage of carnivorous opposed to vegetarian fish closely matches the current percentage of carnivorous opposed to vegetarian humans. There are other meaningful reflections between animal and human habits, and the former imitate the latter, not the other way around…There are many examples in the fish and animal world proving that the carnivorous aspect of the “food chain,” so holy to biologists, is not a necessity for healthy survival. Jungle animals who eat the flesh of other animals? Regardless of what you learned in school about Darwin’s theory, men taught animals to be carnivorous. There was no blood shed in Eden, when this earth was an “Eden Heaven,” many millions of years before the Atlantean, Lemurian, and Paleolithic periods, about which more in chapter 9. If cows and calves, sheep and lambs, mama and papa and baby monkeys and gorillas, giraffes and hippos can survive in good health as vegetarians, there’s no reason why lions, tigers, leopards, and others can’t do the same, given enough time to restore their digestive organs back to their original state.

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posted February 17, 2008 01:42 AM         

Even if you aren't an animal lover.. spend an afternoon with a dog and you know they do...
Do they play, react, show affection or curiosity? If you accidentally stumble on their paw, do they yelp?

posted February 17, 2008 03:12 AM         

Shortly after, I was eating burgers and my older cousin couldn't help but comment that it was the cow I'd liked. My uncle confirmed it when I looked at him, but I didn't understand. I said something like, "She sure tastes good," but I didn't understand why I didn't see her out in the pasture anymore for days, and then it was only a vague understanding.

I found out years later that they'd did that BECAUSE I'D CRIED, as they were imparting the lesson early that "animals are food." When I found out (I was almost 14), I felt bad because I felt it was my fault that a cow died--because I liked her, she was marked for death. And, at the gut level, I think I feared that maybe others I cared about were also in danger...

posted February 17, 2008 08:28 AM         

I feel in my heart that people should, however, begin to change their perceptions towards animals and embrace the animal kingdom in the hearts.

Gently, in time, after humans have begun to change things such as factory farming......people may......gently and gradually
chose not to eat other food which is available

However

I feel this is going to take time

Therefore, it would be helpful if some animal rights activists could understand this, but, equally,
this is incredibly difficult for people who are so, so sensitive towards and animal's pain and who
have seen such horror
that is the nightmare on Earth,
the terrible nightmare of cruelty

amidst the profound beauty.

To be clear-
I do support the vegetarianism and veganism

But the human race as a whole need a lot of time to change their perceptions towards animals before miracles will happen, and I strongly feel that causes such as this are best done gently,
as I believe men such as Ghandii
are true saints........

And non-violence, I am learning now, should be a part of not only physical actions,
but every action, including speech.

Linda Goodman wrote how words can affect us, and reading her book before I became an animal rights activist is probably why I eventually left this group in the end.

posted February 17, 2008 08:33 AM         

However, until people can together realize this, I believe they are innocent in their actions. It is not our fault, we just need to, gently, wake up.

Just my two cents.