Jainism The Cosmic Vision

SR No.: 006587
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: UK Mahavir Foundation London
Publication Year: 2008
Total Pages: 276
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

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Jainism: The Cosmic Vision violence his two most powerful weapons. Gandhiji's concept of non-violence is not ordinary one. It encompasses a whole gamut of qualities and virtues - sacrifice, justice, compassion, mortification, tolerance, love for one and all. A person needs inner strength to practise non-violence. A votary of nonviolence, he said, would be prepared to face any consequences, including death. Fearlessness is what he should have. Mahavira, Buddha, Ram, Jesus were all fearless souls. If you are prepared to die and if you have no desire to kill, that leads to love and compassion. Compassion, he believed, can effect change of heart in any other person.
For Gandhi, righteous behaviour and sense of justice lead to non-violence. Justice means absence of exploitation. Tolerance can bring about a change of heart, not wielding a sword. On 8th October, 1931, he wrote in Navjivan that man's true legacy is tolerance; fighting with weapons is a jungle law. Soul force is the true source of non-violence and soul is immortal, universal. Strength derived from soul can make a person fearless and non-violent. Once a person realises the strength of his soul, he becomes non-violent. Thus, his nonviolence is not the virtue of a coward, but of a truly brave person. He has observed in the issue of Harijanbandhu of October 13, 1938 in connection with his association with General Smutts: "He began as my bitterest and fiercest opponent and critic, but today he is my dearest friend." To be non-violent does not mean to love one whom we like, but to love whom we like to hate. On 7th July 1946, he wrote in Harijanbandhu after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima : "The moral of this bombing - the most tragic event in History is that violence can not be destroyed through violence and
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