ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 01

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 25

“The chronicle of 50,000 negroes who took to heart the principles of non-violence, who learnt to fight for their rights with the weapon of love and who in the process acquired a new estimate of their own human worth".
Gandhi was himself greatly encouraged from the outcome of his non-violent protest against apartheid in South Africa, and felt emboldened to launch a countrywide non-violent movement in India for freedom. But non-violence was not a tactical weapon for him. In keeping with the Jain concept of Ahimsa, he practiced it in his personal life as well. His moral fiber was strengthened because he embraced the comprehensive Jain view that nonviolence has first to be fully ingrained in one's thoughts, emotions, psychology and intellectual outlook. It should then with the same consistency and transparency find an echo in one's behaviour as well as expressions.
In contemporary times, humanity that is distraught with escalating violence at all levels of life and is hankering for stable peace may have a lot to learn from Jain concept of Ahimsā. Jain scripture Yogaśāstra says:
"Reverence for life is the supreme religious teaching,
Non-injury to life is the supreme moral guidance, Giving freedom from fear to life is the supreme act of giving,
Non-violence to life is the supreme renunciation."
Carl Sagan, the renowned American scientist summed it up succinctly about Jain view of Non-violence.
"There is no right to life in any society on earth today nor has there been at any time with a few rare exceptions such as the Jains of India."
Romaine Rolland has thoughtfully observed in this context that the sages, who discovered the law of non-violence in the midst of violence, were greater geniuses than Newton and greater warriors than Wellington. Non-violence is the law of our species as violence is the law of the brute.
The growing and increasingly terrifying specter of terrorist violence and cruelty has become a matter of grave concern. Tackling terrorism has been likened by U.S. President George Bush to waging a III World War. However, violence cannot be defeated by more violence. The way out, in the ultimate analysis, is spreading the culture and practice of non-violence.
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STUDY NOTES version 5.0