Influence Of Jainism On Mahatma Gandhi

SR No.: 034277
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Jaibhikkhu Sahitya Trust
Total Pages: 18
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 2 MB

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Influence of Jainism on Mahatma Gandhi
to be an "invisible traffic" between Mahavir and Gandhiji. Bhagwan Mahavir gave an infallible guide to ideal living - what to do and what not to? What to eat and what not to? How to behave and what to say and how? This ultimately leads to non-violence, just as all roads lead to Rome.
Both Bhagwan Mahavir and Mahatma Gandhi faced ordeals in respect of nonviolence. Both faced violent crowds - Bhagwan Mahavir went to Ladh region inhabited by most violent people, who ate human flesh. He faced them with equanimity and refused to even to keep a stick to ward off ferocious dogs. Nor did he used his hands to keep them at bay. Similarly, in August, 1946, Gandhi stood amidst a hostile and violent crowd in Kolkata where communal violence was at its peak and people were baying for blood. He was unarmed and the only cover he had was non-violence. In the face of such a situation there are only two possibilities-surrender or sacrifice. Bhagwan Mahavir showed love and compassion to Sangamdev, Yaksha Shulpani and the snake Chandakaushik. 2500 years later Gandhiji did the same thing. He believed: Love conquers all. Viceroy Lord Mountbatten said, "Something that even a brigadier could not have done, he did it all alone and saved the eastern wing of India from catastrophe." The non-violence of Jain religion is not confined to scriptures but was practised by Mahavir
throught immense suffering. Gandhiji also walked on the same path and through selfsuffering tried to win opponents over. If love is centred in "self", then it proves fatal, it is violent. If I want to save my skin by injuring others, through speech and deeds, then it is being utterly selfish. But when "self" is removed from love, it embraces the universe. Gandhiji believed in such universal love and it was from Shrimad Rajchandra that he imbibed the concept of love and nonviolence. He said: "This man (Rajchandra) has touched my heart in matters religious for whom non-violence is central to his life. It is non-violence to be shown to the smallest worms and insects on the one hand and human beings on the other."
Gandhiji also found fearlessness in Shrimad twenty-five years after Shrimad's death. He said, "Let us learn from him to assert truths fearlessly. Let us be afraid of our conscience only, all the twenty-four hours. It is our watchdog and we must not go against our conscience."
It is apparent, if we study his life, that Gandhiji was afraid of nothing except God. He found fearlessness in Shrimad Rajchandra, his mentor. Despite being human beings, he says, we are none better than the quarupeds in the present time. The strong supress the weak, the rich the poor and the exploiter the exploited.
Bertrand Russell, the thinker, said:
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