Introduction to Jainism

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

Page 62

INTRODUCTION TO JAINISM
Ironically, with the passage of time the ritualistic leanings took over and we forgot the ecological importance of the life style we followed.
The Jain sages had an acutely sensitive and penetrating insight into the world of the living. They designed the ahimsā way of life with a very wide and liberal perspective of life. The popular Jain aphorism - "parasparopagraho jīvanam” (all living things are mutually supportive) - encompasses the symbiotic phenomenon of creation and sustenance existing in nature at all levels. (e.g. Bacteria extract nutrition from our intestines and at the same time they help us digest our food. A bee extracts nectar from flowers and at the same time pollinates them for their procreation.
Had we made a little effort, had we shaken off our traditional conceit and dogma, and sincerely pondered over the problem, we could have provided humanity with solutions to many of the environmental problems. Tree worship and the concept of the wish-fulfilling tree (kalpavriksha) are common to almost all Indian religions. But to believe in life and consciousness in plants and beyond in both visible and invisible life forms, and to nurture fraternity and compassion for all life forms, macroscopic as well as microscopic, seems to be a unique contribution of the Jain religion.
The prevention of abuse of the ecosystem is an intrinsic part of the ahimsā way of life. It is designed to eliminate the sources of disturbance to the ecology at individual as well as social levels in a pragmatic way. If we look at the Jain code of conduct, both for ascetics and laity, we find that it prohibits individuals and society from harming the natural habitat. In fact, it goes a step beyond. By nurturing the natural functioning of the habitat through sentiments of ahimsā and universal fraternity it helps restore any damage and disturbance caused to the ecological balance.
I would go so far as to say that protection of the environment is the foundation on which the edifice of the Jain way of life has been raised. It was so intimately assimilated in