Anekantavada

Author(s): Harisatya Bhattacharya
Publisher: Atmanand Jain Sabha

Page 23

Xvi
Even if such a man practises non-violence, it may some time appear to him that his refraining from the violent acts is meaningless in as much as such acts never result in the soul being slain. Conversely, if a man has deep faith in the absolute belief that the soul is only momentary, he may as well indulge in the activity of violence; for, the soul being momentary, it meets its death every moment and his act of violence is ineffective. In both the above cases, if violence is ineffective and is attended with no harmful effect on the person resorting to it, there is no reason why one should refrain from violence.
In the above instances, one, who understands both the above beliefs pertaining to the soul in their correct perspective, reconciles both the theories pertaining to the soul and appreciates the real merits of non-violence. He believes that the soul is eternal but at the same time he appreciates the fact that so long the soul is enchained in a body, it experiences the feelings of pleasure and pain. He also appreciates that so long a soul is subject to the unending round of birth and death, cessation of one life and change from one body to another amounts to a sort of death for the soul. He also sees that the soul is momentary but he finds that it is not the real nature of the soul