________________
cept of negation which is essential and important to some degree, even at the social level, has been made impractical and out of reach for the common man, for the sake of resultant social glamour. The penchant for glamour has increased to the point of glorifying even the suicidal tendencies.
Such extreme practices, without a workable knowledge of the concept, have clouded the minds of Jains as well as others and made them believe that Ahimsa is a concept leading to fanatic austerities.
Negating some food for some time or all food for some reason has no bearing on selecting religious death or rejecting sustenance of the so-called sinful life, dependent on inevitable destruction of other living organisms.
The disciplinary negations prescribed in Jainism are for people at lower levels of purification. The level where there is generally no intellectual capacity to first understand and then apply a principle into one's conduct. Once a certain point is reached, the individual or group has to understand before applying. Reaching a still higher point, the primary object becomes the pursuit of purification. At that level active negation sublimates into spontaneous and automatic withdrawal.
The principle of rejecting something has the inherent meaning of accepting its opposite. The moment we try to restrict any message to one-sided verbal meaning, we loose its spirit and deprive it of the required impact. This only confuses the masses.
In following the Ahimsa conduct the negations prescribed do not make one inactive or escapist. These negations are negations of a negative --- Himsa or violence. The
82
AHIMSA: THE SCIENCE OF PEACE Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
