Jain Digest 2001 01 Vol 17 No 01

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 14

BA
JAINISM : WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?
By Dr. Duli Chandra Jain, Flushing, NY
Alpa: Ma, Jainism teaches us nonviolence and vegetarianism. It Alpa: Ma, how can young children make proper choices? teaches us to speak the truth. It tells us that anger, pride, decep - Ma: Everybody makes decisions with the advice of family and tion and greed are violence of self. Such behavior also leads to
friends. Young people should understand that parents have a self
frie violence of others. Is there any religion that does not agree with
less concern for their children's comfort and well being. So chilthese ideas?
dren should trust their parents. They should seek and value their Ma: Alpa, you are right. Teachings of all religions are similar to parents' advice. We should remember that hurting the feelings of the Jain teachings. However, there is one important difference. one's parents is violence. Jains practice nonviolence to the greatest extent possible.
Neel: Should we always do things that our friends do or say? Alpa: Is there any other difference?
Ma: It is helpful to listen to and follow one's good friends. HowMa: Jains believe that bad thing like untruth, anger, pride and ever, we should understand that our friends do not have the same greed are forms of violence. We have to avoid such things to prac- kind of feelings for us as our parents do. So it is better to seek our tice nonviolence.
parents' guidance too. Blindly doing what others do is not proper. Neel: Ma, if we lie or cheat, steal or hurt someone, we obtain bad We should not yield to peer pressure. karma. Our friends will not like us. These things are also against Alpa and Neel: Ma, we now understand some special things about the law. Is that why we should not do bad things?
our religion of nonviolence. Ma: Yes! However, here is one more important point. It is proper Alpa: Ma, Jains believe that each soul is independent. Jainism to avoid bad things for fear of law or of bad karma, or peer pres- teaches that self-help is the way to gain such independence. Jainism sure. However, it is best to avoid bad things because we want to also says that the role of living beings is to help each other. Will lead a good clean life.
you please explain these ideas? Alpa: What about fear of God?
Ma: Alpa, as you know, there are two kinds of souls: liberated Ma: Jains believe that God does not reward us or punish us. So the
souls (SIDDHAS), who have freed themselves from the bondage question does not arise.
of karma, and worldly souls, who have physical bodies and the
bondage of karma. All liberated souls are independent. The worldly Alpa: Ma, everybody is afraid of bad things happening to him or
souls are not completely free. Worldly beings live with the help of her. How can we face such things?
each other. They need food, water, air and other things. DependMa: It is normal to have some fear. That is why followers of some ing upon their spiritual development, worldly souls enjoy varying religions perform rituals to seek the help of God. We Jains, on the degrees of freedom. other hand, regard that good and bad things are part of life. So we Alma
" Alpa: Ma, worldly souls need many things to live. They need the should face them calmly.
help of other living beings. So they are not independent. Neel: Ma, Jains also perform some rituals. We pray to Ms. A
Ma: Alpa, you are right. I am happy to know that you understand TEERTHANKARS. We perform worship. Some Jains even pray
ay
thar
that worldly souls are not completely independent. to imaginary gods and goddesses. Do these things help?
Neel: Ma, in what sense are worldly souls independent? Ma: Although people get some satisfaction by performing rituals, in fact, they can not prevent bad things from happening to us.
Ma: Neel, let me explain this by means of an example. Suppose
there are two classmates, Amit and Rekha. Both have the same Alpa: But we do get some inspiration and confidence by doing
y doing teachers, books and other things. They depend on them for their
och such prayers and worship.
studies. However, they are free to study as much as they want. Ma: A better way to get inspiration, confidence and peace of mind They take the same test and both fail it. Amit stays calm and deis to understand that good and bad things will happen to us in our cides to try harder in the future. Rekha gets upset and blames lives. We should carefully think and figure out what we should do everything in sight including her karma. In this respect, Amit and in a given situation. Even if we do not succeed in spite of our best Rekha are free to do as they wish. efforts, we should stay calm. This is part of our practice of nonvio
Alpa: Ma, this is a good example of our belief that truth is manylence.
sided. Amit and Rekha are not free in some respects and yet they Neel: Now I understand that the Jain concept of nonviolence in are free in other respects. This is called ANEKAANTAVAAD. volves a lot more than not killing or hurting living beings.
12/JAIN DIGEST SPRING 2001 Jain Education International 2010_02