________________
ging another or picking up from another. Given in there simple terms, the reason for this behaviour was that you must take one and leave another for the children. If you leave nothing for the children, what will they think of you when they starve? When you leave them, your children will grow strong, remember you, and do the same for their children. In the simple language of these people children mean all the future generations.
This is the real essence of Ahimsa in its applied form. It has to be a way of life; it has to be a belief rooted deep down into the mind and sentiments. Ahimsa is neither a rule nor a ritual. It is discipline, not only for an individual at a certain time, but for all people, at all times.
If infused in large groups of people the Ahimsa attitude would help human race to live in harmony with nature. Ironically, this widely applicable principle has been confined to the individual level by none other than Jain interpreters and propounders themselves. It has not progressed since the early interpreters, living in simple society, evolved simple applications. Later scholars, preachers, and ascetics have been content with blindly following those early and simple interpretations, which had already become a spent force. The few who tried to keep abreast of times were condemned, and their radical reforms and non-traditional viewpoints were pushed into obscurity by making them purely academic.
In the campaign against evil, we have never tried to improve our arsenal, whereas the evil have raced ahead. The evil thought in simple society meant thinking of direct harm to any other being. With the ever-increasing complexity of life, direct harm has lost its importance. Harm can be caused by manipulating people or events, or even by pushing a re
AHIMSA: THE SCIENCE OF PEACE 114 For Private & Personal Use Only
Jain Education International
www.jainelibrary.org
