Introduction to Jainism and its Culture

SR No.: 001605
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Balbhadra Jain
Publisher: Kundkund Gyanpith Indore
Publication Year: 2002
Total Pages: 334
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Religion, & Culture
File Size: 21 MB

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Any possibility of another war fills them with fear because they know that this war will destroy the world.
In summing up, a brief comparison of violence and non-violence is given here.
Violence has made tremendous progress. The first step towards this progress was taken when man first invented stone tools for his protection when he lived in jungle as a primitive. It took the second step when man invented weapons made of iron. The third step was the invention of gun. The use of poisonous gases as weapons came as the fourth step. The fifth step was the making of bombs and the sixth one came when nuclear weapons were invented.
Nón-violence has also made a parallel progress. The first step towards this progress was taken when in a tribal society head of family was chosen. The second step was choosing a king. The third step came about as electing a village council or council of elders. The fourth step was evolution of legal system or court. The League of Nations and the United Nations came as the fifth and sixth steps.
The progress of violence gave Hydrogen Bomb to the world.
The progress of non-violence gave United Nations Organization to the world.
Today it is an open choice before humanity if it wants peace through violence or through non-violence.
We have family squabbles everyday. If the wife or son goes against our wish we do not break their head with a stick or kill them. We settle the differences and peace returns to the home. When peace cannot be brought in homes with the use of a stick, how can it be brought in the world with threats of nuclear weapons? A stick is a small weapon and a hydrogen bomb is a large weapon but both are weapons.
The building of peace cannot be raised on the unstable foundation of the brittle sand of violence. It can be successfully raised on the solid foundation of Jain ahimsā where it will be stable. Bhagavāna Rşabhadeva was the first to pronounce this ahiisā thousands of years
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