Jain Center Minnesota MN 2007 07 Pratishtha

Author(s): Jain Center Minnesota USA
Publisher: USA Jain Center Minnesota

Page 29

Jainism in the 21st Century
by Pratap Bhogilal, Mumbai
Om - O Paramatman, lead me from darkness to light - from ignorance to right knowledge - Samyag Gyan, to right faith - Samyag Darshan, to right conduct - Samyag Charitra. Lead me from death to immortality. May there be Peace, Peace and perfect Peace.
Jainism shows us the path to Samyag Gyan, Samyag Darshan and Samyag Charitra and the path to Peace which we all are craving for, but which is eluding us.
Late Mr. N.A. Palkhiwala, the famous Indian jurist and also our ex Ambassador to USA in a Jain conference a few years ago, spoke elaborately on the Jain tenets of Ahimsa, Anekant and Aparigraha and said that the 21" century, will be the century of the Jains.
The world today is suffering very greatly from terrorism, fundamentalism, consumerism, nonenvironmentalism. All these ills can be greatly minimized if we all go forward in the direction given in the above mentioned Tenets.
If we look deep into this matter, the root cause is poverty. In today's world which has more or less become a global village, the divide between the rich and poor is widening and unemployment is increasing.
Consumerism is on the increase among the middle classes and the general tendency is to enjoy as much as you can. No nation is feeling secure and this sense of insecurity has resulted in the lust for power. Take for example the US war on Iraq. The nuclear nations do not want proliferation of nuclear weapons whereas other nations like Iran, Korea also want to develop nuclear power for their own security against domination by other powers. This is bound to aggravate the present feeling of insecurity. We all abhor the present situation and we are all craving and searching for peace.
Ahimsa in its deepest sense means that one should not kill or hurt any living being. We should not do unto others which we don't do for ourselves. Nobody likes to be killed or hurt. Why then should we hurt of kill any other being? Parasparograhan Jewanani. It has been proved now scientifically - which our Jain Tirthankaras have maintained all along that apart from human beings, animals, worms, plants, water all have life. We all live on one earth and all life is interconnected. We all want to live in a very agreeable climate and for this, a suitable environment is necessary. It is therefore absolutely necessary to strengthen the feeling of co-existence - not only among human beings but also among animals, plants, water etc. Tampering with nature has to completely stop and measures have to be taken for restoring the environment. This will only happen if Ahimsa is realized and becomes integral to our consciousness and then only will we think of caring for the happiness of others – in fact it will generate love for the other being.
The positive aspects of Ahimsa are friendliness (Maitri), compassion (Karuna), respect for virtuous people (Pramod Bhavna) and equanimity (Samta).
Our normal mentality is how to succeed ourselves in life - attain wealth, get recognition, domination and to meet these selfish ends, we spare nobody - even animal world, plants etc. As such, there is grave danger to existence of mankind. Nature has provided enough for everybody's need but not for anybody's greed. As such we have to practice Aparigraha (contentment and non-accumulation).