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Jainism as a World Religion
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DR. RAMJI SINGH
Preface
Thought myself a Hindu, I have the great pleasure and privilege in presenting my paper on 'Jainism as a Global Religion'. To speak of the beauty and grace of one's religion is good but to talk of the splendour and grandeur of other religion is the need of the hour. My second reason for presenting such a paper is because Jainism has been a victim of a misunderstanding both in the West and East that it has either been derived from Buddhism or is part of Hinduism. Even good and well-intentional people in the West think that the whole of India is Hindu. No doubt, the Vedic and Hindu thought and culture has been the most dominant feature in India's religious life, it is true that India has been the mother of Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and Hindusim with its numerous sects.
Jainism is the sublimest gift of Indian culture not only to India but to the whole of humanity. From the point of its historicity and antiquity, Jianism is one of the oldest religions of the earth and atleast as old as Hinduism if not older. We find numerous references about Jaina Prophets in the most authenitic scriptures of the Hinduism. The relation between Hinduism and Jainism is the same as between children with different identities but clinging to their common parentage i.e. the Indian Culture. Hinduism has been abundantly influenced by Jaina ethics and style of life and so Jainism has also assimilated many important things of the Hindus in their day to day life. Even in future, one cannot flourish and blossom without the other.
However, like every religion, Jainism has its own mission to the world i.e., non-violence, which is more relevant today than before. Ofcourse, non-violence is no monopoly of Jainism. Even the Hindu scripture is full of the idea about non-violence. Buddhism emphasises
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