Introduction to Jainism

Author(s): Rudi Jansma, Sneh Rani Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 18

16
INTRODUCTION TO JAINISM
number of them - perhaps some 70,000 - live outside India, mainly in England and the United States. The reason that they have spread so little, even in the countries surrounding India (though in the past they were probably abundant in Kampuchea, Thailand, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries), is their humble and non-violent way of life. Traditionally the Jains used to walk barefoot only, and made no use of vehicles which could do harm to living beings. Nowadays Jains live scattered all over India in villages and cities. Most of them can be found in Rajasthan and Gujarat, where one can also find their most lavishly adorned temples, and in South India.
The Jains are small in number, but they have often occupied, and still occupy respected positions in society. Their degree of literacy (almost 100 %) and higher education is far above average. In a spiritual sense the conquest of the self can be thousands of times greater that that of a huge armed host in the material sense. An army may gain land, force human souls to leave their bodies or destroy their freedom or rightful destiny, but spiritual conquest means cnnobling the soul, or rather, to put it in Jain terms, more unlimited shining forth of the noble qualities of the soul. These qualities are first of all unlimited knowledge and wisdom, compassion and love; because these are the true characteristics of man and in fact every living being, which can however be obscured by our own illusions and their pursuit. That a noble soul can be stronger than an army was proven in practice by Mahātma Gandhi, who, though not himself a Jain exercised great sympathy for the principle of non-violence. Gandhi had for some time (prior his early death at the age of 33) a Jain spiritual mentor, Srimad Rajchandra, whom he regarded as one of the three persons in his life who had been instrumental in molding his ideas. Also many others in different cultures followed, though they may never have heard about Jainism, a consistent ethic of inner and outer nonviolence with like results.