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AHIMSA AND ECOLOGY
[Key note speech at the Symposium Event at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London to celebrate the 2600th Birth Anniversary of Bhagavan Mahavir on 7th April 2001.]
It is a privilege to speak at this vintage "Temple of History" in the backdrop of its rich collection of Indian art including unique treasures of Jain art through the ages.
The pleasure is all the more since the symposium event is dedicated to Mahavir the great Jain apostle (Tirthankar) whose life and teachings have deeply influenced spiritual thinking and ethical living in the 2600 years since his birth far beyond the narrow confines of religious doctrine.
The happy coincidence makes the poet in me recite:
"Vibrations galore
Need one ask for more?"
Despite astounding advances in science and technology, knowledge communications and comfort levels, it is a sad spectacle to see an increasingly violence-prone, terrorism-targeted, hate infested and intolerance glorified world moving towards rapid erosion of moral values, merciless degradation of the environment, and evaporation of soul-energy. Man's exploitative instincts against Man, nature and other living beings have brought the universe to the brink of disaster. Dogmas, rituals, bigotry, orthodoxy and fanaticism have come to be mistaken as Religion and we have gone a long way towards committing spiritual harakiri.
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