Bhagavana Mahavira and his Relevance in Modern Times

Author(s): Narendra Bhanavat, Prem Suman Jain, V P Bhatt
Publisher: Akhil Bharat Varshiya Sadhumargi Jain Sangh

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Mahāvīra's Non-violence in Modern Scientific Age
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folk language and explained to them the real meaning and singificance of life on earth by his own example. He tried to eradicate the caste system by reconstructing the Society or rational basis into only two divisions namely spiritual aspirants and householders i. e. (1) Monks and (2) Nuns, (3) Lay Brothers and (4) Law Sisters. This social reconstruction shows not only Lord Mahāvīra's prophetic vision but his realistic and practical foresight for basing his teaching on sound scientific foundation. Lord Mahavira's aim-not information but transformation :
Lord Mahāvira did not want to stuff the heads of the ignorant masses with mere symbols, rituals, and images in the name of religious truth, because his primary concern was not to present unwanted sophisticated mass of information to his hearers but transformation, a rationalistic change of man's defiled way of life. He wanted to bring about a renovation of a man's understanding both of the external physical world and its phenomena and of a man's own existence-a transformation in man's very concept of life and its ideals from a practical point of view as possible. In other words, he wanted to bring about fusion between the worldly, practical or scientific knowledge then available and the higher knowledge of reality as supplementary and complementary to each other. Scientific exposition of Mahavira's teaching :
Lord Mahāvīra adopted a simple, logical, convincing, realistic and also scientific method of explaining the basic but universal principles of his teaching. Real medical science expects a man to live a simple unsophisticated, pure life by breathing pure air, and taking simple but nourishing vegetarian food. So also laws of Natural Science require a man to live a simple, natural life and not a complex, excited, or artificial life, as we moderners are doing. Lord Mahāvīra, with a scientific foresight, explained to the ignorant suffering masses that Sin is nothing but impurity of life and perverted condition of both our intrinsic nature and soul. So he asked his followers first to purify their defiled minds by driving out impure thoughts and evil and selfish desires arising therein. So plain and pure living. hygienically, medically, psychologically and practically, if adopted as a way of life, would naturally, avoid, according to Lord Mahāvīra, impure and selfish thoughts and