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AHINSÄ, THE NONVIOLENCE
- Manubhai Doshi, Chicago, IL
Eyam Khu Nänino Säram, Jam Na Hinsai Kanchana Ahinsäsamayam Chev, Etävante Viyaniyä
Samansuttam
Not to kill any living being is characteristic of the enlightenment. Equanimity coupled with nonviolence is the essence of religious science.
Mahätmä Gändhi was born on October 2, 1869. He has been universally acknowledged as the apostle of Ahinsä, the nonviolence. As such October 2 or some other date in the month of October is celebrated as Ahinsä day. It is therefore worthwhile to write about nonviolence in this issue of Jain Digest, particu- larly bringing out his contribution to the concept of Ahinsä.
Almost every individual belongs to some religion. The Indo- Äryan religions are more concerned with wandering of the worldly beings from birth to birth and their principal objective is to get rid of the said wandering and to attain the liberation. The term 'liberation connotes the perfect purity. As such, spiri
1- tual pursuit consists of overcoming the defiling instincts so as to attain the purity. These overcoming and attainment interact upon each other. It is not possible to attain the purity without overcoming the defilement and merely overcoming it without the objective of purification leads nowhere. Lord Mahavir laid emphasis on the former, because at that time there was too much talk of inherent purity of soul. There were many persons, who laid down their own doctrines. Quite a few of them insisted that soul is pure and it always remains unadulterated. As such the spiritual pursuit consists of nothing else but of understanding the inherently pure nature of soul.
They were right in the absolute sense. It is, however, a fact that the worldly soul happens to be in the state of imperfection. The exclusive emphasis on the inherent purity leads to ignoring the present imperfect state. Jainism therefore lays emphasis on the way of attaining the purity and lays down nonviolence, restraint and austerity as the means. As such, Dashvaikälik Sutra states: Dhammo Mangalam Utkittham, Ahinsä, Sanjamo Tavo; Devävi Tam Namanssanti, Jassa Dhamme Saya Mano. It means: Religion, comprising nonviolence, restraint and austerity, is supremely blissful, even gods bow to him, whose mind always stays in religion.
There is a vital significance in associating restraint and austerity with nonviolence. It is not possible to observe nonviolence without resorting to restraint. A nonviolent person cannot afford to behave as he likes. He needs to lead a restrained life.
Moreover, he has to undergo the rigors and hardships, that he may come across. For being equipped to undergo the same with equanimity and peace of mind, he needs to observe austerities. As such, restraints and austerities are inalienable parts of nonviolence.
Ahinsa can be conceived in three phases. The first one is: 'Live without hurting others. In this concept nonviolence is restricted to human beings. That is normally observed by all the civilized societies. The second is: 'Live and let live. In this concept nonviolence is extended to other living beings. That is mostly observed in India. The third is: 'Protect other life even at the cost of your own.' That is Jain concept. With that concept in mind, Lord Mahavir risked his life and went to the abode of in m venomous snake Chandkaushik for conveying the message of nonviolence That concept is vividly exemplified in the following story.
One of the principal disciples of Lord Mahavir was Muni Metärya. He is popularly known as Metäraj Muni. Once he went to the house of a goldsmith for alms. The goldsmith was making barley shaped grains of gold to be embedded in jewelry. Seeing the Muni at his door, he left his work and went inside to get some food. Meanwhile, a pet bird came and swallowed the golden grains taking them to be the barley. As the goldsmith came out with food, he saw that the golden grains were missing. Hence he asked the Muni about the same.
For Muni it was a dilemma. He could not tell a lie and if he spoke the truth, the goldsmith would kill the bird for getting the grains out of its stomach. The Muni would then become instrumental to causing the violence. He therefore kept mum. The goldsmith asked him again and again, but the Muni would not reply. Since no reply was forthcoming, the goldsmith concluded that the Muni was hiding the grains somewhere. He could not afford to lose the costly grains and therefore decided to use force for getting the same back.
As normal force did not yield the result, he decided to resort to more violent means. He brought a moist lace of leather and tied it tight around Muni's head. Then he made the Muni to stand under the sun. As the lace began to dry by the solar heat, it started compressing Muni's head. The compression continued to increase, as the lace became drier. Ultimately, Muni's eyes came out on account of too much pressure. But he took the pain as a consequence of his evil Karma and bore it with equanimity. That accelerated Nirjarä, the process of eradicating Karma. All his Karmas were thus destroyed and he gained the omniscience.
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JAIN DIGEST. WINTER 2002 / 25
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