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2005
HOLISTIC APPROACH TO LIFE THROUGH REVERENCE FOR LIFE
By: Pramoda Chitrabhanu Jain Meditation International Center, New York City
The history of mankind has been a history of incessant wars and bloodshed. The murder of innocents continues to this day and we find religion to be one of the major impetus for such crimes against humanity. On close examination, we would find that such claims by particular religious ideology of being the "true path, the only path" being one of the prime drivers for men to be motivated enough and kill millions without remorse. The 20th century has been a special chapter in the blood filled history of mankind. The lava of violence erupted with unprecedented fury and force, leaving millions dead in a series of events like World War I and II, Russia's October Revolution, Stalin's purge, the coming of Mao in China, the holocaust conducted by the Nazis in Germany, the partition of India and the nuclear bomb attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The 21st century was also appropriately inaugurated by the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. and the attacks by the U.S. in turn on Afghanistan and Iraq. In the midst of so much bloodshed, the light of ahimsa, having compassion in all living beings, is the only hope. Compassion helps us to develop a holistic approach to life. This develops when we have respect for ones own-self and towards all forms of life. The principle of non-violence as espoused by Mahavir is one of the basic precepts of Jainism and it is through the complete practice of non-violence that we express our reverence for all life. Mahavir said that not to kill any living being is the quintessence of all wisdom. But this practice of non-violence, starting with the self and extending towards all livings beings, cannot be brought about when men are themselves fractured and desolate within.
Non-violence is a commitment towards oneself and in our relationship to others and it makes us sensitive not only to our internal life but also to the concerns and feelings of our fellow human beings. The stresses and strains of city life has made man chronically frustrated. We are physically tired, mentally discouraged, emotionally drained and spiritually forlorn people. Men have lost the ability to be fully integrated human beings because they are torn between the polarities of good and evil, creation and destruction, action and inaction, happiness and unhappiness. To be an integrated human being is to be able to deal with the suffering that life deals us.
The disintegration of families further leads to the erosion of human values. Internally scattered and fragmented human beings possess no harmony between thought, words and deeds. The thoughts of the entire world coming together in peace and brotherhood are a chimera when we are not together within ourselves. Whatever we see in the world, we are very much part of it directly or indirectly. So if we want
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