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every effort in that direction. The experiments Gandhiji made in the realm of truth and non-violence are at once practical and have left a lasting lesson for posterity. Civil disobedience with its specific characteristics was a remarkable byproduct of his experiments. He wanted a decentralised economy and political order and was opposed to the concentration of power in the hands of a few. His conception of trusteeship was a golden mean between capitalism and socialism.
The ideal of non-violence cannot be practiced by everyone, much less by any society at present; that is why we need police force, punishment under law, army, etc., which have a relative justification.
Political ideologies should not divide mankind, and wars should not be the order of the day. These are dehumanizing us besides degrading us morally and spiritually. The leaders of mankind must be made to eschew their machinery of destruction and to sit at a table for mutual discussion and persuasion and for adopting ways and means for establishing a peaceful society all over the world. What is spent on wars can be easily diverted to mitigate poverty and to alleviate the miseries of mankind.
The Jaina scriptures, the author has pointed out in chapters 7 and elsewhere, contain elaborate details on the exposition and practice of Ahimsa. Sanctity of living beings is the highest value; and in our practice of Ahimsa, a careful classification of living beings is made, arranging them from the lowest to the highest grade. If violence is inevitable, it should be at the
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