1. Ahimsa: Refraining from doing injury to any mundane soul. Any injury whatsoever to the material or conscious vitalities caused through passionate activity of mind, body or speech is Himsa. Under the influence of passion, a person injures the natural purity of Jiva; and, as a result of the working of passions, he loses his life forces, or life itself, and similarly, causes pain to others, or even the deprivation of vitalities or of life itself. Passion is thus the moving cause which leads to himsa. The word Prana means vitality. It is of two kinds. Bhava Prana, conscious vitalities are the attributes of Jiva such as consciousness, peacefulness, happiness, power. The conscious vitalities are possessed by all Jivas alike. Dravya Prana are material vitalities. They are ten, the five senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing, the three forces of body, speech, and mind, and breathing and age. With reference to the possession of material vitalities Jivas differ and are divided into the following six classes:
(1) Ekendriya, one sensed, such as earth bodied, fire bodied, air bodied, vegetable bodied. They have four vitalities: age, breathing, body force, and sense of touch.
(2) Dvendriya, two sensed, such as worms, conch, shell. These have six vitalities: the previous four, and speech force and sense of taste.
(3) Treendriya, three sensed, e.g. bug, ant, scorpion, lice. They have seven vitalities: sense of smell is added to the above six.
(4) Chaturendriya, four sensed, e.g. wasp, moth, fly, bee. They possess the sense of sight also and have eight vitalities.
(5) Panchendriya Asaini, Irrational, five sensed, such as a kind of serpent found in water. They have nine vitalities, the sense of hearing being added to the preceding eight. They are rarely found.
(6) Panchendriya Saini. Rational, five-sensed. They include hellish, celestial and human beings, beasts, birds, fowl, fishes, serpents, etc. They have ten vitalities, mind force being added to the above nine. The degree of Himsa varies with the motive which causes it, and the vitalities injured. The higher the number of vitalities possessed by a Jiva, the greater is the himsa in killing it. Himsa has been said of two kinds: Anarambhi or Samkalpi and Arambhi. The first one may be translated as "Intentional Injury". It can be avoided by every thinking person without any difficulty or harm to himself. The second one Arambhi Himsa may be sub-divided as Udyami, Graharambhi, and Virodhi. Udyami Himsa is unavoidably committed in the performance of necessary domestic purposes such as preparation of food, keeping the house, body, clothes clean, construction of buildings, wells, gardens, and keeping cattle. Virodhi is that which is unavoidably committed in defence of person and property, against thieves, robbers, etc. One who has adopted the discipline of a saint practises complete Ahimsa. A true believer in the householder's stage abstains from Samkalpi Himsa, but is unable to abstain from Arambhi, although he tries his best to avoid it as far as possible, and is ever making progress in such endeavour. Further, those who desire avoiding himsa should, first of all take care to renounce wine, flesh, honey, and the five Udumbar fruits, viz., gular, anjeera, banyan, peepal and pakar, all belonging to the fig class. Honey, wine, butter, flesh are all the result of extrerne fermentation and the birth place of lives of the same genus. The five fruits referred to are birth places of mobile lives. A Jain disciple would renounce all the above non-eatables. Also Himsa is inevitable in eating at night. It should, therefore, be renounced. One, who has perfectly renounced Himsa, will not utter a word which is likely to give pain to auother; will not do any act which may cause injury to another; will not harbour any thoughts prejudicial to another; will not make anybody else utter words likely to cause pain to another, nor commit acts likely to injure another, nor entertain feelings of ill will towards another; and will not approbate or encourage others who by words, deeds or thought cause pain to another. This nine fold renunciation is perfect renunciation.