Is Jainism becoming a Kitchen Religion...

Q2.  Has Jainism become a “kitchen religion”? Or why is food given so much importance in Jain households?

First, let’s talk about what is meant by a "kitchen religion". The youth / young adults in today's world perceive Jainism as a “kitchen religion” when they extensively hear about food in religious context - we can eat this; we can’t eat this; we can eat at this time; we can’t eat at this time, we can’t eat green vegetable on certain days, we can’t eat root vegetables but certain root vegetables are exceptions. And in midst of all this, the fundamental Jain principles and how to apply these principles in their current environment are not explained or are given very low priority. 

We want to shed light on following Jain values and principles as they apply to this question, while keeping the spiritual growth perspective in the forefront:

·     Ahimsa Anuvrat (Vows) of Laypeople

·     Following path of Minimum Violence for Healthy Survival

·     Jainism is a Religion of Reflection, not Action

·   Actions done in Mithyatva (Ignorance/Wrong Beliefs) always acquire Pap karma

Our intent in addressing this question is to create a positive and enriching experience about the religion, create awareness and understanding, and answer questions for curious minds who want to understand rather than follow blindly. 

Ahimsa Anuvrat (Vows) for Lay People:

Jain conduct (achar) is different for Monk/Nuns than for Laypeople. When monks/nuns take five great vows (Mahavrat), they should follow it 100% of not hurting any living beings including one sense beings. For laypeople, we have responsibilities for family, work, community, religious organizations etc. that shouldn’t be ignored and hence our vows are different and called Anuvrat. Here’s the verse from yoga sastra that explains the ahimsa vow for lay people:

સ્થૂલ પ્રાણાતિપાત વિરમણ વ્રત:-

નિષ્કારણ, નિરપરાધી, ત્રસજીવોની સંકલ્પપૂર્વકની હિંસાનો ત્યાગ

Sthuul pranaatipat viramaan vrat:-

Nishkaran (without valid reason) Niraparadhi (not guilty) 

Trasjeevani (2-5 sensed beings) Sankalp-Poorvani (premeditated / planned) Himsa (violence) Tyaag (avoid / give up)

At the core, it means laypeople should avoid / give-up premeditated / planned violence towards movable (2-5 sensed) living beings, which are not guilty, and there is no valid reason. There is no mention in Jain scriptures (45 Agams) about prohibiting the consumption of root vegetable or any other green vegetables for laypeople. The kind of reference first appeared around 12th century (1700 year after Mahavir Swami's nirvana) and as time passed it become very strong tradition among most of the Jains. Please see the information below for accessing 45 Agams in Prakrit and Hindi languages on Jain eLibrary website.

For our healthy survivals, we need to use and consume minimum quantity of 1-sense living beings, which includes water, fire, air, soil, plants (which include pratyek and root vegetables). Anuvrat indicates non-violence against movable living beings (Triyanch / Tras beings) only.

Following Path of Minimum Violence for Healthy Survival:

Non-violence is the one of the highest principles of Jainism but life cannot exist without violence. Hence, laypeople need to follow the path of minimum violence for their healthy survival. 

Jainism says the degree of violence is proportional to the number of senses a living being possesses. Therefore, eating meat (one 5-sense living being) is worse than eating vegetables (innumerable 1-sense beings), even though innumerable one sense living beings are killed in eating of vegetables.   

Jainism also says one should not consume any junk or deep-fried food that doesn't have any nutritional value since food should be consumed for health, not for taste or desire (ref: Vanditu sutra Gatha 20 and 21).  Nutrition comes from produce, fruits and vegetables. 

Jain laypeople vow indicates to use or consume only plant base food (1-sense beings) responsibly. It also strongly indicates to avoid any kind of wastage. Any form of wastage is violence. For example, cooking more food than what you need and throwing out food is a form of violence. 

Therefore, as laypeople, we should follow a path of minimum violence. For any situation, we need to understand the values and principles and apply them in our environment using our own wisdom. 

Jainism is a Religion of Reflection, not Action:

The aim of Jainism is to enable our spiritual growth, such that our thoughts, words and actions are in alignment with Jain values and principles. May be Jainism is becoming a kitchen religion because we are focusing too much on doing or not doing things related to food, instead of understanding and reflecting on intent / bhaav behind it. We need to constantly ask ourselves:

·     What has been my spiritual growth? Is my Mithyatva eliminated? Is my Kashaya reduced? Am I getting closer to the true nature of my Soul, which is always being pure, peaceful, compassionate...?

·     Do I truly understand what and why am I doing it? Or am I just doing it blindly?

·     Am I directly or indirectly, consciously or subconsciously looking for recognition? Am I doing these activities for ego, greed or out of fear?

·     Am I creating any Kashaya or stress in the family? Is peace and harmony maintained in my family?

The reflection, reason and intent behind doing something is religion. The most important thing is to understand why we are doing any activity, whether it is any kind of penance, giving up any food or not eating at a certain time. We should do it for the right reasons and with complete understanding – we are doing this only for our spiritual progress. 

Actions done in Mithyatva (Ignorance / Wrong Beliefs) always acquire Pap karma:

Anytime we do something mechanically without understanding why, then we are doing that action under ignorance (Mithyatva) and it does not provide the intended spiritual growth. We need to understand the principles first and then apply them. 

We have been programmed by society that we must follow certain rules, like do not eat after sunset.  However, what is the thought behind that? As an example, one may be told that do not eat at night. If a layperson follows not eating at night rule but then in turn builds more kashayas (e.g. anger because cooking of the food is delayed, don’t get home on time especially during winter months in America or they are hungry and want to eat) then have truly benefited?

Vanditu is the Atichar (list of minor violations) for lay people, lay people practice 12 vows.  During pratikraman we ask for forgiveness for our Atichar with Vanditu sutra.  There is no mention of asking for forgiveness for eating after sunset at night in Vanditu. Don't get this wrong, we are not promoting eating at night. There are definite health and meditation practice benefits for not eating at night but making it a strict rule and following it without understanding is not beneficial for the individual's spiritual growth or for others around them. 

Penance/fasting is yet another aspect related to food. Is fasting easier than limiting intake of food (unodari)? When we practice unodari, it is in an internal process, nobody knows about it, it is not measurable and most difficult. Fasting is easy to measure and receives big recognition in family and society. 

After we fast, do we reflect on how our attachment to food has changed. The reduction to our attachment and getting closer to true nature of our soul is the spiritual act and the net result of any penance.  As an example, Mahavir Swami did not set out to fast.  Rather, he was in meditation and the fasting was a result of the meditation.  When he felt his body needed food then he went ahead and got food (Gochri). 

Fasting can also be looked as a way for training our minds. If we can train our minds to not eat at every instinct of eating, then in the future we can train our minds to not dwell on every negative thought/emotion. We can train our mind to control our eating habits, our thoughts and our actions. If being mindful about eating can transition to being mindful about our thoughts / emotions / actions, then that is a spiritual progress. This would be an internal process - we are the only ones who can truly assess that growth and others do not have a need to know. 

Summary

Food is an integral part of our life, but food should not be used as an indicator for being a Jain, following religion or our spiritual growth.

The purpose of all the actions in religious context is to look inward, enhance our spiritual life, find happiness within, and reduce kashayas. External renunciations are meaningless if nothing changes within. 

We all have different circumstances and different environments and we should use our own wisdom in every situation. Karma feels our reflections (bhaav) and do not see our actions.

References:

Searchable Agams

Please visit www.jainelibrary.org and search Agams by the serial numbers below

• Searchable 45 Agams in Prakrit language - Serial Numbers 003701 to 003789 (All odd numbers like 003701(Agam01), 003703 (00Agam02), ........ 003789 (00Agam45).

• Searchable 45 Agams in Hindi Translation - Serial Numbers 034667 to 034714 Continuous Serial Number of 45 Agams