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and health, the input of poison has to be stopped and toxicity of the poison already ingested has to be flushed out. Without this, no amount of nutrition will help improve the health. Similarly, for regaining the normal activity of soul, which is endeavour towards purity through right perception and knowledge, the input of Karma has to be stopped and already fused Karmas have to be flushed out. Passions are poison for soul and they manifest through wide varieties of violence. Without eliminating violence, one cannot steer the soul towards right perception, knowledge and conduct. That is why Ahimsa finds such pride of place in the Jain Philosophy.
As already explained, violence does not just start at wielding a weapon and end at killing by that weapon; according to Jain Philosophy, it is much subtler, much deeper, and much wider than the mere act of killing of human beings or other life forms. Violence does not need a weapon it is a weapon itself. It is not just physical; it involves the depth of soul, mind, and psyche. Ultimately, leaving the gross world of subject and object, it reaches the singular world of individual consciousness, mind, and soul.
At the point where an individual leaves the physical and social level and enters the subtler world of realities of soul, there is a strange dimensional change. Some aspects start converging or concentrating and others start diverging and diffusing. Here the interpretations undergo a progressive change, and at points become confusing if the perspective does not match with the level.
The realization of the pain and anguish of other living beings is the starting point of the path of Ahimsa, for it is the directive factor toward refraining from causing pain. This realization is directly dependent on the object's capacity to
AHIMSA: THE SCIENCE OF PEACE 101 For Private & Personal Use Only
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