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B.5.8.3
Love, Friendship and Tolerance in Jainism
Dr. Shugan C. Jain
India is a country of different faiths, religions and cultures. Our modes of worship as well as way of living also differ to some extent. There is no denying the fact that our philosophical approaches and view points are divergent, but among these diversities there is a common thread of unity which binds all of us and it is nothing except humanity. Approach to the life of every religion is different but goal of all is one i.e. cessation of misery. Comparing human body to a ship, the individual soul to the sailor, the worldly existence to the ocean that has to be crossed, the preceptors of Jains have provided religion to take man to the place where he can experience the highest bliss. Jainism is such a sublimest gift of Indian culture.
Love and Friendship Lord Mahāvīra has given us the great maxim of love and friendship. A Christian priest once asked a Jaina Ācārya, what a great maxim Christ enunciated when he said 'Love even thy enemy'. Can there be anything greater than that? Ācārya said, it is truly great but! Lord Mahāvīra goes further when he says- Why look upon another as an enemy and then try to establish friendship with him, it is better not to create an enemy at all. The ego of priest was imperceptibly hurt but he grasped the point.
With the awakening of the bhāvanā of friendship, many problems get resolved of themselves. Every day all kinds of dirt accumulate in our mind, the most inveterate of these is the enmity. In order to eradicate enmity Lord Mahāvīra said, " See that in treating another badly you do harm to yourself. Another person may and may not be harmed but, you are definitely harmed - that is certain. The moment an evil thought arises in your mind regarding another, it is stamped on your brain-cells and you will have to suffer the evil consequences thereof. That in harming another, one only harms oneself- he who realizes the truth of this maxim, will never again tries to harm another.
Enmity and fear, friendship and fearlessness-go together, they form inseparable pairs. Only the man, whose mind is full of fear, regards another as an enemy. He, who is free from fear, may regard his ill-wisher as an ignorant person, never an enemy. By practicing goodwill towards all living beings, one has the feeling of friendship well established within oneself. A mind full of friendship and goodwill towards all is forever happy. The mind pervaded by enmity is unquiet, violent, filled with hatred and incomprehensible. The fire of revenge is
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