Is egg vegetarian?

Today, many people argue that eggs are vegetarian since they have no life in it. However, is it possible to eat something that is lifeless like wood or plastic? Everything that we eat has had life in it. Vegetarian food is spiritually acceptable only because it is derived from a single sense life forms. While eggs that humans eat come from life forms that have five senses. Param Pujya Dadashri has given a logical explanation about how eggs indeed have life and are considered non-vegetarian. 

Find out by reading the section below from Param Pujya Dadashri’s book on "Non-Violence":

Questioner: Some people even argue that there are two types of eggs, ones that are fertile and others that are infertile. So can those be eaten or not?

Dadashri: People living abroad [outside of India] were making the argument that there are ahimsak [infertile] eggs! So ‘we’ told them that anything that is non-living cannot be eaten in this world. One cannot eat anything that is not living. If an egg did not contain life, then that egg would be inedible, it would be considered a lifeless thing. This is because anything without life is considered lifeless. In order to eat foods that contain life, once they have been cut, they have to be consumed within two to three days, before they spoil. Even vegetables can only be eaten within a certain amount of time, once they have been picked [from the plant]; they will start rotting after that. Therefore, only living things can be consumed. Therefore, if an egg did not contain life, then it would be inedible. It is only edible if it is alive. So if people are saying that eggs do not contain life, then that point is entirely humbug. Why do they trap people like this?

It is a wonder in itself how this group, who believes in the consumption of infertile eggs, has represented these infertile eggs in this form [as being lifeless]. If that group were to be asked, “Tell us, is this infertile egg non-living or living? If it is non-living, it cannot be eaten.” What kind of people are you, that you have fooled the entire world! If there is no life in it, then we cannot consume it; it is considered inedible.

Questioner: But these [so-called] vegetarian eggs do not hatch.

Dadashri: The fact that they do not hatch is a different matter, but the eggs are still alive.

So, when things have been misconstrued like this, imagine the difficulty arising for Jain children! All these children had argued with ‘us’ on this topic. Then ‘we’ explained to them, “Dear children, at least give this some thought. There is no problem at all if the eggs were nonliving, but that which is not living cannot even be consumed.” ‘We’ further explained to them, “Otherwise, if you want to be overly wise, then you will have to stop eating grains too. Go ahead and eat only non-living items. However, non-living things are not useful to the body. They do not contain any vitamins. Items that are non-living might satisfy one’s hunger, but they do not contain vitamins. So the body cannot be sustained. It doesn’t get the required vitamins, does it! Therefore, non-living items will not suffi ce as food.” That is when those children agreed to stop eating eggs from that day forward. If the point is explained to them, then people are willing to understand; otherwise, these other people represent things in such a misconstrued way that the intellect goes astray.

This wheat and rice, and all other items that we eat, these big bottle gourds that we eat, those are all living beings, aren’t they! Are they not living beings? However, the Lord has given the boundary of what to eat, “Eat these living beings. But do not kill the living beings that feel tormented by you, do not eat them, do not do anything at all to them.”

Questioner: These eggs do not feel tormented, so is it okay to eat them or not?

Dadashri: Eggs do not feel tormented. However, the life that is contained within an egg is in a dormant state. But when it hatches, you would realize that the chick feels tormented, wouldn’t you?

Questioner: I would realize that immediately. But the egg does not move around, does it! What about that?

Dadashri: It does not do so because the living being within is in a dormant state. That is why it doesn’t do so. Even the human fetus is [dormant] just like an egg up to the fourth or fifth month. That does not mean that one can kill it. We humans can understand what happens once the egg hatches.