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greatest work of humanity could not match the smallest wonder of nature. Jains inspired Mahatma Gandhi, who in turn inspired millions —including many Nobel Peace Laureates —to the philosophy of non-violence. It was a non-Jain (Gandhi-ji) who made the ahimsa of the Jains a household and respectable word, not just in India, but throughout the world. He took the Ahimsa of Jains from textbooks and from the Sadhus, and gave it to the most common men and women. This Practical Ahimsa made Gandhi-ji a role model for millions of people around the world. In 2007, the United Nations established October 2 as an International Day of Non-Violence in honor of the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. And yet, we have no Jain Gandhis, no Jain Peace Laureates. What does this tell us? To me, it appears that although we Jains inherited ahimsa as a rich gift, we seem not to care enough for this treasure. We have allowed ahimsa to become merely a slogan instead of shaping it into wider and broader practice.
CURRENT TRADITION WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT and VISIBLE ACTIVISM Jains should be passionate about Ahimsa. They should be activists and instruments of change. Bhagawan Mahavir was. But we don't find many Jain activists for any major societal causes which are many. All the activists that I know of mostly happen to be non-Jains. At an international seminar in 1998, at Harvard University on “Jainism and Ecology,” several Western scholars pointed out that Jains talk of ecology and protection of environment but there is no Jain activist such as Sunder Lal Bahuguna or Arundhati Ray in India. There is also no example (except for Jain Sadhus) of active and visible practitioners of environmental protection within the majority of Jain community. Nearly all Jains preach and practice vegetarianism, but the credit for spreading not only vegetarianism, but also veganism
An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide
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