Kindness to animals, kinder world tomorrow

Oasis

All living beings of our world, especially the least empowered ones deserve kindness from us. Jainism, one of the ancient religions of India preaches an austere code of non-violence to protect all living things from their impact on the world. Apart from being strict vegetarians, the Jains sweep the path in front of them as they walk lest they tread on crawling creatures, and avoid accidental harm to flying insects by wearing mask.

Buddhism illustrates the virtue of kindness to animals for making this world a better place through the story of Siddhartha and the swan. One morning Prince Siddhartha and his cousin Devadatta, went for a walk in the woods.

Siddhartha pointed out a swan flying in the sky to Devadatta. Before the former could stop him, Devadatta shot an arrow at it. As the bird went down both the boys ran towards it.
Siddhartha was the first to reach the spot.

He picked up the bird, gently removed the arrow, and nursed its wound. Just then Devadatta reached the spot and demanded that the bird belonged to him as he shot it down. Siddhartha refused saying that he is still nursing its wound.

Devadatta took his cousin to the court for justice.

The judge looked at the bird Siddhartha was holding and took a few moments to arrive at his verdict. “Had the bird been killed by your arrow, you could have claimed it,” said the judge.

“But Siddhartha saved it. The bird belongs to the one who saved it, and not to the one who tried to kill it,” he declared. By the time of the verdict the bird had fully recovered from its wound. Siddhartha went out and let the bird go.

“The bird is free. It belongs to no one,” said Siddhartha as he watched the swan fly high in the air.

We cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around us by our actions. It is within our power to decide on the kind of difference we want to make.

The Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi sums it all up when he says “the greatness of a nation and moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”