Jainism The Cosmic Vision

SR No.: 034278
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Mahavir Foundation
Publication Year: 2008
Total Pages: 137
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 2 MB

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Jainism: The Cosmic Vision Sadhu emanates from these vows and out of these, the foremost is non-violence.
The Value and Heritage of Jain Religion some other substance, it becomes dead. Vegetables, trees, plants, fruits, etc. do have life, but when they are dried, cut or cooked, they die. To avoid injury to them, as far as possible, man is advised to use them discreetly. He should resist from polluting water, air, etc. and thereby perpetrating violence to them. Worms, insects, animals, etc. help in keeping ecological balance, thus, they help mankind. And domestic animals have for ages been a constant and faithful aid to man in civilizing himself. From the ultimate standpoint of their original pure pristine state, all living beings are uniform in their nature. Jainism teaches us to look upon them as upon one's ownself. Inflicting injury to them is inflicting injury to one's ownself.
Ahimsa, non-violence, has been the sheet-anchor of Jainism. Ahimsa is one of the basic virtues. No where else in the other religious traditions, this basic virtue has been so scientifically, scrupulously and thoroughly integrated with the main doctrine. Jainism is the only tradition which has consistently allowed this tenet soak into the very essentials of its teachings and practices. This singular uncompromising emphasis on Ahimsa is the special and exclusive feature of Jainism. In Jainism, Ahimsa is not mere human sympathy; it is empathy, the urge to identify oneself completely with other persons, other living beings and with the whole universe.
Bhagwan Mahavira said, "If you kill someone, it is yourself you kill. If you overpower someone, it is yourself, you overpower. If you torment some one, it is yourself, you torment. If you harm someone, it is yourself, you harm." A wise man knows this and so he does not kill, nor does he overpower or torment anyone.
The heart of Jainism is non-violence. Positively stated, Jainism is a religion of compassion, universal love and friendliness. It aims at the welfare of all living beings and not of humans alone. It maintains that living beings are infinite, all so called empty spaces in the universe are filled with minute living beings. According to it, there are countless single-sense organisms that take the subtlest possible units of material elements - earth, water, fire and air - as their bodies. Fresh earth is alive, but when it is baked, it becomes dead. Fresh water from a well is alive, but when it is boiled or influenced by mixing
The Jain dictum parasparopagraho jivanam, that is 'living beings render service to one another offers an endearing alternative to the modern Darwinian formula of 'survival of the fittest.' The life of a living being is a life of mutual cooperation and assistance. Industry, labour, service and sacrifice of innumerable living beings are there behind the sustenance and growth of an individual. Thus every individual is indebted to the universal society of all beings. Even virtues and meritorious qualities can never be cultivated and fostered in isolation.
This concept of Ahimsa, non-violence, has evolved from logical thinking and from experience. It has an almost empirical basis. It has emerged from the doctrine of the equality of all souls. Everyone wants to live, nobody likes to die. Violence enters first in thought, it then manifests itself in speech and then in deeds. That is why they say that war is born in the minds of men. The quest for Ahimsa is centred in Anekantavada, the philosophy which accomodates a multiplicity of points-of-view and of perspectives.
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