The vegetarian religion.

This happened sometime back when one of my American friends invited me for dinner; it was an informal dinner and the idea was to share our hunger, and the food.

He offered me a pizza slice - something he said was heavenly. I bit into it, it tasted strange. I asked him, "What is it?"

"Slices of beef with mayonnaise sauce, and rich mortzella cheese on bread."

"Beef!!" I was a Jain. In my religion, let alone beef, you did not eat meat, or eggs, and in fact some Jains will not even eat onions or potatoes. "Oh!", I said, "That's good. But I am a vegetarian."

"Are you a vegetarian ? I am so sorry. I did not know that," my friend said sounding rather hurt.
"It's okay! Not that I have never eaten meat," Now this was partly true. I had eaten chicken patties before. (It's quite another thing that I had vomitted later.) Saying that, I bit into the pizza slice.

Now why did I do that? I could have left the slice alone, and believe me, I really despised the taste of that 'pizza slice.' It was as if some animal was moving down my throat. Was it my selfish self wanting to become a part of the American culture? Maybe I just wanted to be a part of the crowd, not wanting to be left out of all the fun, just 'coz I was a vegetarian - an Indian in the promised land where dreams are made and hearts broken, trying very hard to find my place in the sun.

Or was it the philosophy on which Jainism and all the religions in the world are based? - the principle of love, the first commandment which told you never to hurt your fellow beings, in any way, physically or emotionally, consciously or unconsciously - to rather not hurt a human being, than eat a cow which had already been butchered earlier.

It was a realization - a moment in which I was in touch with Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, the saint who would cover his mouth, lest he breathe in the bacteria and the fungi in the air and kill them. I would have hurt my American friend if I had not eaten the slice, because he would have thought that he had defiled my religion by offering me meat. The cow had already been butchered. It was dead. I could not possibly hurt it anymore.

I was no longer a slave of my religion; instead I had become a master of my religion. I had made Jainism richer, not poorer. I had touched Mahavira's feet, and he had blessed me.