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RE: jIvan in plants

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vchandra • February 23, 2000 


Dear all,
  This is in response to Sri Krishna's reply to my original post.
  Though majority of the cases when we consume plants it involves only parts of the plants, there are also cases like when we consume tuber varieties (potato etc.), greens (coriander, green varieties) where the plant gets killed when we use them. We also see on auspicious occasions like marriage, plantain tree is cut and staked in front of the mantapam or house.
  To be true, my original post was not to start a discussion on vegetarianism, ahimsa etc., because this most probably was dealt with on this list a while ago. On the contrary, it is about jIva's existence. May be there is nothing that we can talk about this, because it is not some subject that can be dealt with by words etc., But please read on... here are some more questions: 
  Can we call anything that which 1) consumes&grows 2) has self-defence and 3) reproduces, 
   as a sentient thing and that anything sentient should house a jIva in it ?
  If so, can we say the body cells that make up our sarIram are individually sentient because they (physiology experts please correct me here) do the three activities above. And if so, can we say these cells are individual beings that make up our body ? The body cells do the above three simply by chemical build-ups and break-downs, But what is not chemical phenomenon in the perceptible world ?! Everything is. 
  In these lines, infact we say amoeba, bacteria, virus etc., the most primitive uni-cellular beings on Earth are sentient.

  Looking forward to clarifying posts on this subject..

  Thanks and warm regards,
  chandrasekaran.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: kk_22@yahoo.com [mailto:kk_22@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 1:31 AM
> To: vchandra; bhakti@lists.best.com
> Subject: Re: jIvan in plants
> 
> 
> Hi 
>  It's true, thats why, even when we cook something and
> eat without offering to the God, Basically we are
> consuming Sin, and thats why, even vegetable or
> anything for that matter, before we eat, we must say
> KrisharPanam (Offering to that Supreme Lord Sri
> Krishna) and eat it, so thats why we aren't consuming
> anything sin. !! Well then one can ask, does that
> apply to meat !! Well No way and not at all !!! 
> There is lot more explanation to it, but i just wanna
> cut it short here. Also in the past plants were not
> growing once its brances are cut it stoped where it
> was, but later stages, when Indra had that Brahmahatya
> patakam, Tree Personified (can say) took almost one
> quarter of the sin and got the boon of bringing thier
> brances back to life.  Well to put it in lay men terms
> it use to be just like any other Humans that once our
> fingures or limbs or anything except nails and hair,
> once its cut, it never grows back, simillarly once the
> brances are cut, it would never use to grow back then,
> but after that boon given by Indra, plants begin to
> grow back again.  These are just some thoughts to
> share, but to specifically answer your question, every
> entity in life has a different charecteristic in life.
>  In plants its one of their properties, to grow and
> germinate like that, that's why they could grow and
> generate in that manner.
> due to time i may have to cut here, but i will
> certainly write more, about this inthe future.  
> 
> Krishna 
> 
>   
> 
> 
> --- vchandra  wrote:
> > Dear members,
> >    I have some doubts regarding jIva's existence in
> > plants and likes. We and almost every other faith
> > strongly believe that plants also have an embodied
> > self or jIva in them. The following questions are in
> > these lines.
> > 
> > 1. There are some variety of plants which can grow
> > from cut portions of a grown plant. Examples are
> > hibiscus (semparutthi pU), rose which can grow from
> > cut stems of a grown plant. In this case,
> > scientifically speaking the stub must have been
> > having active cells etc., even after it was cut, for
> > it to grow once it gets water and minerals upon
> > staking it into a suitable soil. Only thing is, this
> > stub is not yet sentient. At what stage, does a jIva
> > get into such a prospective life bearing body, in
> > this case, the new plant ? More than a question,
> > this doubt is just to pick some of your thoughts in
> > this regard.
> > 
> > 2. We have seen germinating seeds like green peas,
> > green gram (payaru) which develop a rudimentary stub
> > coming out of the seed, after it is soaked in water
> > for a few hours. Will this germinated seed have a
> > jIvan in it ? Quite likely it will. Again, trying to
> > gather your thoughts on this. 
> > 
> >    Looking forward to hearing from members on this
> > subject.
> > 
> >    Thanks and warm regards,
> >    chandrasekaran.
> > 
> > 
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