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Ahimsa
Now Himsa of living beings having more than one sense may be two ways. It may be
i. e. deliberate, or
B T i. e. implied in the struggle for exista uce. The layman cannot possibly avoid the latter and so he is enjoined to abstain from east i. e. deliberate Himsa only. His Ahimsa is thus reduced from 8 Ans. to 4 Aus.
This Sankalpaja Himsa may be with respect to farcucret i. e. innocent beings or TT beings ii e. beings that offend us. The latter cannot be avoided by the layman. He has to preserve his and other people's person and property, and to protect his country from invasions, has to maintaiu law and order, and to do such other various acts which necessitate him to deliberately practise in his doings Himsa of offenders. So the abstinence from Sankalpajı Himsa is confined to innocent beings only. The layman's Ahimsa is so reduced from 4 ans. to 2 ans.
___ This निरपराध संकल्पजा Himsa may be either ( 1) सापेक्ष i. e. Decessary e. g. in performing surgical operations, or in dealing punishment to children going to school and so ou, or (2) facut i. e. wanton e. g. killing living beings for sport, food, sacrifice &c. The former is necessary even in the interest of the living being that may be the subject matter of Himsa. The layman cannot refrain from it. He is therefore required to abstain from fato or wanton Himsa only. The two annas of his Ahimsa are reduced to one anna only.
To sum up, the Ahimsa which a layman is enjoined to observe is confined to refraining from Saukalpjı ( deliberate ) nirapeksha ( wanton ) Himsa of niraparadha ( innocent ) Sthula or Trasa Jivas ( living beings with more than one sense. ). It thus comes to roughly speaking one sixteenth part of Ahimsa which an ascetic can undertake to observe and which he is enjoined to practise. It is therefore clear that the doctrine of Ahimsa properly understood and observed would never interfere with the peace and progress of man. kind, but on the other hand would go to considerably accelerate them. There would then be no need of institutions like the league of nations. Those who undertake to refrain from deliberately injuring innocent moying living beings when there is no necessary cause for doing so, are really true friends of mankind, while those who take to the contrary path are its enemies.
.: 36 ::
[ Shree Atmaramji
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