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kindness, service, charity, etc., is dharma and they result in incurring of meritorious karma types, which help and not hinder spiritual emancipation and eventual liberation.23 Like this, it is quite clear that positive non-violence in the form of mercy, kindness, service, charity, etc., are helpful and do not hinder spiritual emancipation and eventual liberation.
Examined from another angle, mercy, charity, compassion, kindness, magnanimity, benevolence, affection, service, friendship, love, etc., are the positive aspects of non-violence, they are in the fundamental nature of the living, they result in the destruction of sins, and are therefore, causal to the gaining of spiritual emancipation and eventual liberation. This book deals with all these subjects and topics at length. The analysis given herein is based on self-analysis, is related to the conditions of life at present and it is without taking recourse to beliefs and expositions regarding afterlife, hells, heavens, etc.,. These have, rather, been based on the natural logic and reason.
For dispensing with aforementioned doubts, it has been necessary to repeat some principles and aphorisms more than once. It should not be taken as a flaw of repetition for the simple reason that it has been done for clarification and emphasis. For dispensing the false beliefs and emphasising the right ones it was necessary to do so. If such repetition was not resorted to, the treatment of various issues raised herein would have been incomplete and doubts expressed thereupon and false beliefs could not have been fully refuted and curiosity of the readers could not have been fully satisfied.
The conclusions drawn in this work are in conformity with what has been mentioned in the Jaina canonical works and the works on Jaina doctrine of karma. I have tried to be dispassionate in presenting them in a balanced and unprovocative language. However, it is possible to err due to my own limitations of knowledge and language. I, therefore, beg pardon from all scholars of canonical lore and welcome any constructive and dispassionate criticism on this work that may be forthcoming from any direction.
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