Ahimsa the Ultimate Winner

Author(s): N P Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 15

cannot defeat or totally annihilate the forces of evil; one has to eventually win them over.
It is here that Jain teachings assume considerable contemporary relevance not as a religious doctrine or sectarian discipline for the followers of the faith, but as a way of life for the wider human community. It has been my constant effort to project Jain religion as a dynamic and open religion of peace, of environment and of non-violence.
It is highly gratifying that my book was first released at the Ahimsa Varsh Celebrations held in New York (USA) is April, 2002 under the auspices of the renowned Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. That this has happened during the 2600th Janm Kalyanak celebrations of Bhagwan Mahavir is for me a coincidence of great honour, encouragement and motivation.
This is all the more so because having been a career diplomat in Indian Foreign Service (I.F.S.) for four decades, and having served as India's Ambassador to U.N., European Union (E.U.) Nepal, Mexico and Belgium, after retirement I felt the urge and the inspiration to become an Ambassador for Non-violence and Peace and to project the compassionate philosophy of Jainism for adoption by the world at large in order to bid farewell to the cult of violence which threatens to terrorize us all out of our very existence.
Time has come to think earnestly and seriously of our collective future-future together with a new spirit of fraternity among all human beings, future together with all living beings and the Mother Earth in peaceful interdependence. We must not let the astounding progress made in science and technology to be misused for spreading destruction and misery and for destroying our civilizational values.
I was delighted to have the privilege of addressing the 1993 Parliament of World's Religions at Chicago (USA), which took place after an interval of 100 years and again the 1999 Parliament
Ahimsa: The Ultimate Winner * (xii)