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________________ Prof. G. R. Jain Head of the Deptt. of Applied Physics, Madhav Engineering College, Gwalior, India. MESSAGE TO HUMANITY Jainism is one of the three most important religions which originated in India, the other two being the Vedic religion, more popularly known as Hinduism and the Budhism. Although there are historical evidences to show that Jainism was prevalent in the third millenium B.C. during the days of Indus Valley Civilisation but Lord Mahavir, born in 599 B.C., was the pioneer of this religion in modern times. Lord Mahavir was born in the province of Bihar in a royal House belonging to a warrior clan at a time when there was a universal desire in the people for the birth of a reformer and a religious leader. The bulk of the population of Northern India was greatly dissatisfied with the existing social and religious structure. The society was divided into four strata, -one, the Priesthood, called the Brahmins; the warrior class, called the Kshatriyas; the agriculturists and the traders and the fourth for whom it was regarded as their sacred duty to serve the three upper classes. The Church had become all supreme. The right of equality and fraternity was denied even to their patrons and associates. In the Code of Manu- the first Law--Giver of Mankind-we read in Chapter II verse 135 that a ten year old Brahmin boy should be respected as a father even by a century old Kshatriya. In Chapter I, verses 99-101 of the same work we read as follows: "A Brahmin is born the master of the world, the lord of all beings. Whatever exists on earth belongs to a Brahmin; by his supreme birth he deserves everything. Whatever a Brahmin enjoys or gives, is his; the rest of the people enjoy only through the mercy of a Brahmin." Thus we see that the Charter of Human Rights had been completely shattered to pieces and the people were anxious to throw off the yoke of aristocratic priesthood. Not only that, people were gradually losing faith in the efficacy of the steriotyped and cumbrous ceremonials and animal sacrifices and were looking forward for their Saviour who would gently lead them on to the way of final liberation. The policy of Caste superiority and racial discrimination was even worse in those days than in Nazi Germany or in the South Africa today. Lord Mahavir was the first to proclaim boldly that all Humanity is One; there are no such distinctions between man and man as between a cow and a horse in the animal Kingdom. Even the most servile class has the right of equality with a Brahmin and must be given the same facilities of reading, writing and worshipping the God. It must be remembered that Brahmins had denied the right of studying religious text not only to the low caste, called the Sudras, but also to the women. Lord Mahavir said : Even Sudras and women could study scriptures, become religious saints and attain the status of divinity. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! IIIIIIIIIIIIII Jain Educa !..IIIIIIIiiiiiiiiii IIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIII.. . iiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII v.org
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________________ paMcama adhyAya : 1 Another important teaching of Lord Mahavir was the Doctrine of Ahimsa,-non-injury and non-violance not only to the mankind but all living beings. It is the doctrine of "Live and let live." He raised a strong voice against the Holy Vedas, because all over the country thousands of animals were being ruthlessly killed in the so-called religious sacrifices in the name of the Vedas. The doctrine of Ahimsa was revived by Mahatama Gandhi in the same form in recent years and successfully applied in the field of politics. The doctrine of Panch Sheel of Pandit Nehru is the doctrine of Ahimsa which will bring about world peace if all the Nations of the world practise it with a clean heart. An observer of this principle is enjoined to speak very cautiously lest any work of his may injure the feelings of others; he is forbidden even to think evil of others; he must shun all such actions which are likely to cause bodily injury to others; he is not to kill or eat flesh; 'Do unto others as you would be done by' is his motto; he must do, as best as he can, to make those happy who are in pain. But he will not tolerate any injustice done to him or to his country even at the cost of raising up arms against the oppressor. The Theory of Automatic Judgement : 'As you think, so you become' and 'As you sow, so you reap' are aphorisms to which all schools of thought subscribe and the general belief is that an accurate record of all our actions is maintained in the annals of the Almighty or His agent; the judgement is pronounced on a particular day and we are doomed accordingly. According to Einstein's Cylinder theory of the Universe our three dimensional space is a curved space and a closed space enclosing a four-dimensional continuum. One startling conclusion of this theory is that both space and time would vanish into nothing if there be no matter. We cannot conceive of space and time without matter. It is matter in which originate space and time and our universe of perception. Under the circumstances it is difficult to think of a time when there was no matter. In other words the universe is eternal. Thinking along similar lines the Jain teachers came to the conclusion that this universe was not created by anybody at any special period of time. Neither the Almighty, whom we regard as All-blissful, takes upon Himself the onerous duty of disbursing justice to the beings of this Globe. He has evolved an automatic system of delivering judgement. If we put this theory of automatic judgement in the language of modern science, it amounts to staying, that as every action of ours is preceded by a thought and every thought is preceded by a material vibration in the brain, the activities of the mind and the matter constitute a super-radio with the quintillion of living cells sending out their individual waves to be tuned in by the receiving Set in the brain. (It has been possible in recent years to make a record of the brain waves, called the encephalogram and the principle of tuning is this: if we want to tune in a particular waves from outside we must produce a wave of the same kind in our receiving set by turning the tuning know). According to Jain theory, the influx of the tuned waves constitutes an influx of foreign matter which produces a subtle coat around the soul. We know today that energy is matter and matter is energy. This coat of fine matter, the composition of which depends upon the nature of our actions, is responsible for dragging the soul from one physical body to another and it keeps the soul bound to the confines of the universe owing to the gravitational forces of matter on matter on all sides. When this coat of subtle matter is shed off the soul by following the Path of Liberation, the latter, being the lightest substance, rises to the top of the Universe like a balloon filled with hydrogen and rests there as Pure Effulgence Divine. It cannot travel any further because ** Jain Education-International ** *** Cha Cha Cha ********** ***
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________________ 4444444444 6 : muni zrIhajArImala smRti grantha there is no medium of motion, viz., luminiferous aether, beyond. Thus we see that Lord Mahavir gave a unique Scientific explanation of the transmigration of the soul without invoking the aid of any super-natural agency. The details of the theory are too many to be outlined here. Another special feature of the Jain Philosophy is its theory of Anekantvad. This theory tries to establish uniformity amongst the diversity of thoughts on a particular problem. It inculcates a spirit of tolerance towards other religions of the world, so that they may sink their differences which are but apparent, for it is said by the ancients, 'The Path is one for all, the ways that lead thereto must vary with the pilgrim. The theory of Anekantvad aims to co-ordinate, unify, harmonize and synthesise the individual view-points into a practicable whole; in other words, the discordant notes are blended so as to make a perfect harmony. It has been compared to the Einstein's theory of Relatively, but is much simpler and less elaborate. Relativity is mainly the theory of the physicist whereas the other has a philosophical bearing. Still the contributions of both to the ultimate outlook on life and its problems are almost the same. According to Anekant, the existence is a huge complexity; neither can human mind properly understand it nor can the human language adequately express it. As such the absolute statements are out of court and all statements are true from a certain point of view only. According to Relativity all our terms of expression like east and west, right and left, up and down, are relative; they are not the same for all the observers and under all conditions; they are not absolute but merely relative to something. Relativity is, therefore, the theory of the Statement of general physical laws in forms common to all observers. The theory of Anekant attempts in a similar way to reconcile the various conflicting schools of philosophy, not by inducing them to abandon their favourite stand-points but by proving to them that the stand-point of all others are alike tenable and represent different aspects of truth. The Cosmological Theory of the Jains: According to this theory the universe comprises of six substances. (1) the Soul, (2) the matter and energy, (3) Space, (4) Time, (5) Non-material luminiferous aether, which is the medium of motion for soul, matter and energy and (6) the field through which the gravitational and electromagnetic forces operate and maintain the cosmic unity. It is the field which keeps the electrons and protons bound down to the atom, the atom to the molecule, the molecules to a crystal and so on. It is worthy to note that the Jain School of thought was the first to recognise that atoms were composed of positive and negative electricity, that the atoms were hollow and can give rise to extremely heavy matter called 'nuclear matter' under certain conditions and the principle of equivalence between mass and energy was clearly enunciated centuries before Einstein who gave it a mathemetical form. Now before I conclude this note I must tell you something about the type of daily life that a layman is enjoined to lead. The six essential duties are : 1. The worship of God by offering prayers. 2. Service to the Teacher, the Guru and listening to his sermons. 3. Study of Holy books. 4. Observations of vows for control mind. *** Jain Educator *** 1 Or * alebay.org
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________________ paMcama adhyAya : 7 5. Contemplation and meditation in a lonely place morning and evening daily. and 6. Charity which implies giving away of food and medicine to the needy; the giving of knowledge to the uneducated and defending the cause of the weak. This habit of giving in charity gradually leads to complete renunciation of all wealth and worldly belongings which is so essential for the attainment of perfect bliss. For it is said that "it is easier for a camel to pass through the needle's eye than for a rich man to tread the path of bliss". In fact the teachings of Jainism on this point are based on what we call today the Socialistic pattern of Society. I pray to God: 0, Lord. Make myself such that I may always have unlimited love for all beings, pleasure in the company of learned men, unstrinted sympathy for those in pain and tolerance towards those perversly inclined. Jai Mahavir, Jai Hind. Alis