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is free to determine his own course of life, and is himself responsible for the consequences of his acts.
The primitive motive of action is the desire for gratification of the carnal passions for wealth and power. It is these motives which prompt him to aggressive and harmful actions i.e. Hinsa. The Jain teachers were the first and foremost in the history of human thought to propound the principle of Ahimsa. That teaching is much misunderstood. Essentially it signifies control of the primary passions (Raga, - Dwesha etc.) as the learned author explains in this book. That teaching apparently originated as a protest against the Vedic institution of animal sacrifice. In broad terms the protest meant: "Thou shalt not build thy happiness on - the misery of another." This was the first voice of reason raised against what is now termed exploitation. In the Vedic literature both the lines of thought are presented in such passages as: "Ma Hinsyat Sarva Bhutanı”, and "Sarva Medhe Sarvam Hanyat”. The exponents of Ahimsa were the pioneers in the line of thought which culminated in the Atma-vidya, the School which propounds self-realisation as
