Jain Journal 1976 10

SR No.: 520044
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publication Year: 1976
Total Pages: 44
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, India_Jain Journal, & India
File Size: 3 MB

Page 39

76
JAIN JOURNAL
human beings come into this category. This category is again divided into two: namely the animal and the human. Human being, though he has all the five senses like other animals, is much superior because he has the power to think and so he can judge what is good and what is bad.
The Theory of Karma (Deeds) is very important. It is the same as said in English “Reap as you sow”. Whatever we do-good or bad, we get the returns equivalent to our deeds. You will be surprised to know that Jainism does not teach belief in God as such, i.e. the supreme power who will help us or do anything for us. Lord Mahavira and the other 23 are not Gods but shall we say Guides. They are the Great Souls who have relieved themselves from the cycle of birth and death by following certain principles and certain ways of life. Thus they have made a path of salvation for their followers. They can do nothing more for us. We have to study the principles that they have put before us and the way they followed these during their lives. The first and the most important principle that they laid before us is “Non injury is the highest religion”. Non-injury means cessation of evil.
“Do not hurt physically, by speech or by thought.” Hurting physically means slapping, killing etc. where the body is hurt. Hurting by speech means talking in the manner that can harm the other persons feeling or create some sort of mental torture. Hurting by thought means thinking or desiring something that is bad for others. Thus, my hitting a person or insulting him by using bad words or thinking that he is a bad man so he should suffer--all three are sinful.
"Anything done, got done, or confirmed if bad, is sinful" i.e. whether I kill a life by my own hands or I ask somebody to do it, or if somebody is doing it and I admire—all these are sinful. Thus my enjoying horse racing, shooting or bull fighting is a sin because thereby I am encouraging the trade.
“A thing whose ingredients or the way of production is not known to us should not be used.” This principle is very difficult for ordinary people to follow because of the modern life. In the olden days, all the basic necessities of life were produced in the same village. But now, when the things are made in factories in other cities or other countries, we cannot know the ingredients. That is why for years we ate jelly not knowing that it contains gelatine; cheese, not knowing that during its process a cheese has to be made with the help of rennet.
-MALINI MEHTA, BOMBAY
Reprinted from The Vegan, Vol. 22 No. 2, Summer, 1975, Surrey, U.S.A.