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Chapter 13
Distinction between The Self And The Not-Self
69. Attachment To The Body Wastes Life
10. Identification with the body is prevalent everywhere. As a result, man has thoughtlessly devised all sorts of ways and means to cater to the body. Even a glance at them is disquieting. Man is always striving to somehow prolong the life of the body even after it has become old and decrepit. But how long can this body, this shell be sustained? At most till death; not a moment longer. All the vanity is reduced to naught when death stares one in the face. Still man continues to produce various things for this worthless body; he ceaselessly worries about it. Nowadays, some people are even advocating meat-eating to sustain the body. In their view, human body is so precious that one may eat flesh without compunction to sustain it; animals’ bodies, on the other hand, have little value. But what, after all, is the ground for believing that the human body is more precious? The only ground is that animals eat anything and think nothing beyond themselves unlike human beings, who take care of the creation around them. This very basis for considering human beings superior is undermined by meat-eating. Human beings are superior because they exercise self-control, because they care for other creatures. Man is superior because of this quality that is not found in the animals. That is why it is said to be a rare gift to be born as a human being. How can man be considered superior, if he undermines the very basis of his superiority? When man begins to eat flesh like other animals without any qualms, he undermines the foundation of his superiority. It is like cutting the branch of a tree on which one is sitting. |
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