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THE MESSAGE OE JAINISM
ponds to the law of conservation of forces as operating in the physical sphere. Its recognition, as such, necessarily leads up to the glorification of the Principle of Ahimsa or Non-violence in Jainism. For, according to the Law of Karma, a living being that causes suffering to a fellow creature, even the lowest developed one, cannot do so without harming its own soul. It does not matter whether it does this in order to further its own advantage or for any other reason. One cannot commit voilence, obviously, without tumbling down a greater or smaller distance from the height of inner development one has reached. Nor can it be done without incurring, sooner or later, a disturbance in the harmonious balance of one's own personality as an inevitable consequence. What brings suffering to one, can never be a source of real joy to another. And whenever it appears to be so, it is because the limited range of our perception obscures our understanding of the slow but sure effectiveness of this Law of Eternal Justice.
This explains why the saying " अहिंसा परमो धर्मः" plays such an important part in the daily life of the religiously inspired Jaina. His sensitive heart, conforming to this principle, acts like the inspired agent of his mind and warns him of every disturbance of well-being in the community of fellow-creatures around him. It spontaneously causes him to insert the resistance of self-control within the circuit of his own activity, or to restrain that of others towards its proper course.
Strictly speaking, all the Indo-Aryan religions recognise the Law of Karma in one shape or another.
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
