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Ahimsā as the key to World Peace.
30th August 1933. If I were asked to name one remedy for all forms of ills, the flesh is hair to. I would at once say-Ahimsă.
Ahimsā, which means Not Hurting, Not Injuring-is the principal weapon of Jainism to fight with against all kinds of evils, and misfortunes. By practising it, men have attained to the Divine State, and all that is implied in that expression. It is not a mere theory that I am putting before you; times out of number, has the principle been put to the test, and never been known to fail.
Jainism points out the natural antagonism between the Soul, and Matter; the body is the prison of the soul, and flesh its bitterest enemy. Owing to the dominion of the flesh, the soul is undergoing suffering in a number of ways, and all its rank, and power have been lost. Immortal by nature, it is now living terror-struck with Death; though Omaniecient and Blissful, in its own right, it is ignorant, and miserable now !
Yet its Divine nature has not been altogether destroyed; only its perfection in that regard has been curtailed, and impo sed upon as if its wings were sewn up, and it has been reduced to the condition of helplessness in consequence.
The evil influences of the flesh can, however, be destroyed
* Taken from " Jainism, and World Problems by Mr. C. R. Jain-Bar-at-Law-Adapted from a lecture delivered by him at Morrison Hotel Chicago U. S. A, under the auspices of the World Fellowship of Faiths on 30th August 1933 at 8 a. m.
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