Indian Culture and Jainism

Author(s): Kamalchand Sogani
Publisher: Jain Vidya Samsthan

Page 31

this dignity. Every individulal, whether man or woman, should enjoy religious freedom without any distinction. A non-violent society can not subscribe to class exploitation and social oppression of man. Mahāvīra bestowed social prestige upon the down-trodden individuals. This led to the development of self-respect in them. Thus he showed that no man or woman should be deprived of availing himself of the opportunities of socio-spiritual advancement. 9. Propounding the philosophy of vegetarianism, and the philosophy of
fighting defensive wars
The term Hiṁsā may be defined as the committing of injury to the Dravya-Prānas and the Bhāva-Prāṇas through the operation of intensepassion-infected Yoga (activity of mind, body, and speech). Suicide, homicide and killing of any other life whatsoever aptly sum up the nature of Himsā, inasmuch as these villainous actions are' rendered conceivable only when the Dravya-Prānas and the Bhāva-Prāņas pertaining to oneself and to others are injured. The minimum number of Dravya-Prānas has been considered to be four and the maximum has been known to be ten; and the Bhāva-Prāņas are the very attributes of Jīva. The amount of injury will thus be commensurate with the number of Prānas injured at a particular time and occasion68 .
Himsā is of two kinds, namely, intentional and non-intentional. The intentional perpetrator of Himsā engages himself in the commitment of the acts of Hiṁsā by his own mind, speech and action; provokes others to commit them; and endorses such acts of others. Besides, Himsā which is unavoidably committed by defending oneself from one's foes is denominated as non-intentional defensive Hiṁsā. This leads us to the philosophy of fighting defensive wars69..
Now the householder is incapable of turning away completely from Hiṁsā; hence he should keep himself away from the deliberate commission of Hiṁsā of the two-sensed to five-sensed beings. The commitment of Hiṁsā in adopting defensive contrivances, can not be counteracted by him. Thus he has to commit intentional injury to onesensed Jīvas, namely, the vegetable-bodied, the air-bodied, the firebodied etc; and non-intentional injury in fighting defensive wars. Even in the realm of one-sensed Jīvas and in the realm of fighting defensive
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Indian Culture and Jainism