Introducing Jainism

Author(s): Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 77

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INTRODUCING JAINISM
ahimsā paramo dharmas tathāhimsā paro damah/ ahimsā paramam dānam ahimsā paramam tapah// . .
'Ahimsā (non-violence) is the hightest religion, in the same way ahimsā is the highest restraint; ahimsā is the highest gift, and ahimsā is the hightest penance.'
ahimsā paramo yajñas tathāhimsā paramam phalam/ ahiņsā paramam mitram ahimsā paramam sukham//. ahiņsā paramam satyam ahiņsā paramam śrutam//
Ahimsā is the highest sacrifice, in the same way ahimsā. : is the highest fruit; ahimsā is the highest friend, ahimsā is the highest happiness; ahimsā is the highest truth, ahimsā is the highest knowledge.'
sarva-yajñeșu vā dānam sarva-tirtheșu vā plutam/ sarva-dana-phalam vāpi nāitat tulyam ahimsayā//
'Or ahimsā is the best gift in all sacrifices, it is a raft (boat) in all tīrthas; or even is the result of all gifts, nothing can be compared with ahimsā'.
Whether this portion of the Mahābhārata is greatly influenced by Jainism or not, is a matter of speculation now. But in other Hindu texts ahimsā is also praised as one of the best ways of social behaviour. For example, in the Bhāgavata the killing of animal even in the sacrifice is vilisied to a great extent as the following verse shows :
ye tvanevamvido'santah stabdhāh sadabhimāninah/ paśūn druhyanti višrabdhāḥ pretya khādanti te ca tān//
(11. V. 14)
"Those who are ignorant of this real Dharma and, though wicked and haughty, account themselves virtuous, kill animals without any feeling of remorse or fear of punishment, and are devoured by those very animals in their next birth.”
In the Uttarakhanda of the Padmapurāņa we come across a passage where the goddess Durgā praises the doctrine of ahimsā. Even in the Tantrik texts some praises of ahimsā are found. For example, in the Kulār nava-tantra the drinking of wine (surā) is extolled in the most extravagant manner, and the eating of meat is permissible only in the Kulapūjā,