Introduction to Jainism

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

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INTRODUCTION TO JAINISM
personal level - and let as few as possible be actively involved. The real judge is karma alone. Let their karmic debt be as small as possible. The two sons of the first king Rishabha, named Bharata and Bāhubali, had a conflict in which the power over the whole world was at stake. Both had strong armies. But they decided that they didn't want to inflict suffering on thousands of their subjects, and fought personally until victory (after which they became friends).
As to “tolerating” destructive forces instigated by selfishness: if we ourselves and our chosen governments did not have the same selfish attitudes or indifference, humankind would naturally design laws which would make such behavior impossible. Even those who destroy without concern will in the end admit the righteousness of such laws, and submit to them, even though it may take generations for this outlook to become the norm. Even criminals feed only on the thoughts we all nurtured, and therefore even the most decent man or woman is partly responsible for what is happening in the world. Not so long ago, in the nineteenth century, protests against slavery were ridiculed. Nowadays we regard slavery as something utterly inhuman and contemptible. Will not the same be said about our present behavior towards the environment and our cruelty towards animals in a century or two from now? Let us sow the seeds for the centuries to come.
There are as many viewpoints as there are thinkers, but none of them is entirely perfect. Thus the world exhibits a richness of philosophies, all of which are the result of deep human reflection. But because no matter-bound, limited soul can perceive the universe in its entirety, all these thinkers remain under the influence of their personal context. This does not mean, of course, that no viewpoint may contain more truth than another viewpoint, or that no opinion could be entirely wrong. If we were to lose sight of that, we might adopt an attitude of lazy tolerance, and thus approval of any viewpoint - without any point of reference to universal truth or ethics. Jains are not postmodernists. There is a final truth concerning