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A vivid definition of Ahimsa, but unfortunately we find it missing from the actual conduct preached and practiced today. The mere physical act has been given so much importance that the feeling behind it is almost totally neglected. It has been forgotten that if the feelings, thoughts and attitudes were made non-violent the physical Ahimsa would automatically be achieved.
The importance to the restriction of physical violence appears to have been given basically due to the fact that it is easier to achieve as compared to the restriction of the violence of feelings. Also it appears to be important to the orderly social life. But merely observing the physical Ahimsa and not caring about feelings is self defeating and even harmful. It gives an illusion of achievement, which in turn causes carelessness and apathy towards disciplining the attitudes and feelings.
Due to this over emphasis the fine principles of Jainism have lost their true value in their application to the social conducts. The followers of Jainism today are lost in rituals like taking vow of not eating after sunset, not eating meat and some vegetables, not eating at all on some particular days of the month or the year, doing some chanting at appointed hours of day etc. Even the ascetics encourage these rituals and consider their duties to have been concluded. There is hardly any serious effort towards disciplining the feelings, thoughts and attitudes. Cheating, bribing, smuggling, tax evasion, amassing wealth by fair or foul means are as common with Jains as with others. They forget that once the mind is disciplined, the physical activities would automatically follow.
According to the Jain way this violence of feeling is much more evil than the physical act. The reason is that ul
AHIMSA: THE SCIENCE OF PEACE 7 Jain Education International
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