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Pl. read this and send your comments T.U.Mehta
NON-VIOLENCE-A SCIENTIFIC REALITY AND AN ANTIDOTE TO BARBARISM.
It is believed that in our planet the earliest man of Paleolithic culture lived in India some 200,000 years ago - the period when man led the life of a savage. The art of agriculture was not known then and as a good hunter the human being was completely non vegetarian. His thinking and living were barbaric; But as humanity progressed, the thinking of human mind also progressed and human society developed the art f discrimination between good and evil which is totally absent in the life of animals. The existence of reason and logic is the only feature which distinguishes the human beings from the rest of the animal world. Emergence of the principle of non violence (Ahimsa) took the human society to new heights of cultural development. Thus non violence is not only a religion creed but is also a sure sign of cultural development.
COSMIC DEMOCRACY.
When in my book "Path of Arhat" I described Jainism as a "Religious Democracy", some of my friends told me that religion and secular concept of democracy cannot go together. This view arises out of the belief that the concept of democracy is limited only to the political field. This is not correct. The concept of democracy is comprehensive enough to cover all situations wherein all individual units covered by it, are treated on equal footing and have the liberty to expand and progress in their own way.
Being a way of life, Jainism looks at the universe as one integrated cosmic mechanism wherein the life of even a microscopic atom has a recognized role to play. Therefore every sentient being, however small it may be, it has a right to exist, to develop and to attain the highest stage of salvation that the great Tirthankars have achieved. In other words, the potentiality for the achievement of Siddhahood in the Jiva of a the blade of grass is the same as in the Jiva of Lord Mahavira himself. Thus so far as the potential to achieve the last step in the ladder of liberty is the same for every Jiva which means that one soul is equal to every soul.
ALL MATTERS CONTAIN SOUL.
It is for this reason that Mahavira stated:-"One who neglects or disregards the existence of earth, air, fire, water or vegetation disregards his own existence. When you kill others you kill your self as you are as much part and parcel of the universal scheme as those killed by you. Therefore a true Jain would never derive devilish delight in destroying innocent lives. The German philosopher Niethche believed against such violence when he said, "humans are the most in human of all animals".
Michael Tobias, former professor of Ecology and Humanities, rightly notes in his book "Life Force":- "Most crucially, Mahavira adopted what Greeks would later term a "hylozoistc" approach
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to the natural world, a view that all matter contains soul, soul which is in the state of permanent living, breathing feeling flux. Thus the clay bound earth, water earth and fire - all are living organisms".
MAN'S KINSHIP WITH LIVING BEINGS.
Michael Tobias further adds that the kernel of what makes a human being "human" is the same kernel that makes every other organism itself. The kinship resulting from the psychological reciprocity is intrinsic to the Life Force, and to all ecologylt is important to note that Lord Mahavira told his disciple Gautam that the ultimate end of soul is "Samatwa" - the concept which equalizes the potentiality of each soul - the very essence of democracy - a sort of kinship resulting from psychological intrinsic to Life Force. Same views have been expressed by Prof. D.S. Kothari, a well knownphycist in his essay titled "Atom and Self". The learned professor further notes." Man calls himself "Homo Sepiens- Man the wise - however, he tortures and murders with an abandon wantonness and brutality that has no parallel in nature." He adds, "Recent work of Konred Lorenz and others show that in nature, harmony is the natural rule and conflict an exception. We cannot be cruel to animals and expect that it will not harden sensibility towards fellow human beings. In the long run cruelty is indivisible; so is compassion.
Alfred Kaestler at a UNESCO round table in June 1978 observed that cincenimals are our "Biological Brothers", the time has come that in the interest of man's own future, this relationship is legally recognized. The suffering of animals and of man is in the end not separable. No longer the redid partition between human beings and other living creatures is tenable scientifically. It is totally unreasonable.
WORLD IS INTEGRATED.
"The great lesson of modern science and particularly biology is that the world is closely integrated interdependent system, and therefore my happiness, in the long run, can only be ensured by working for the happiness of others." Says Prof. Kothari in his another article titled "Science and Ahimsa". During his serious illness A. Einstein was asked whether he was at all afraid of death ; He replied "I feel such a sense of solidarity with all living beings that it does not matter to me where the individual begins and ends Einstein's sense of solidarity with all living beings follows the scheme of our universe which works on the principle of "Universal Hologramj" according to which every sub atomic particle is influenced by another such particle. A research team led by physicist Alain Aspect discovered that under certain circumstances sub atomic particles are able to communicate with each other regardless of distance - it does not matter that they are 10 ft. or 10 million miles away from each other. Each particle seems to know what the other is doing. This interconnection shows how this universe is one unit functioning as such.
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________________ This is why "Acharang Sutra" of Jainism repeatedly emphasizes that when you are thinking to kill a sentient being, you are really thinking to kill your own self. The same concept is expressed by Gita in verses 29, 30, 31 and 32 of Chapt. Six. These are as under translated:- " A True Yogi sees self abiding in all beings and all beings abiding in him (because) he considers himself united with all in identity and treats all with sameness." (29) "He who sees Me everywhere and everything in Me, never gets separated from Me nor do I separate Myself from him."(30) "Such a Yogi seeing Me present in all things and worships Me as dwelling in all and wherever he is, abides in Me."(31) Oh Arjun! On account of this identical unificatioin of all souls, he sees Me everywhere in happiness or pain. Thus he remains highest in My regard."(32). REALISATION OF ONENESS. According to Jainism, this universe is like a big machine whose every part - big or small, light or heavy- is equally important. True knowledge consists of the realization of oneness of all things. The apparent separateness experienced between one self and the rest is an illusion. Alan Wattssuccinctivly emphasizes this aspect in his book "Still the Mind" asking, "Does the root of a flower influence the flower as something fundamentally different from it?" He himself provides the answer, " No, surely the root and the flower are one process ane like your head and your feet it all goies together. In that sense then the universe and what you and I do , all goes together, and the picture of this universe is really the picture of you."