Jain Digest 2002 12 Vol 21 No 4

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

Page 45

Ahinsa, the nonviolence(cont.)...
The strength of Satyagrah lies in the fact that every one has a soft corner at heart. That may be shrouded by the evil tendencies, but it can be awakened by compassion and by willingly undergoing the pain and hardships that may be caused by the adversary. What is needed is a heart throbbing with love and affection. That is called Vätsalya. One need not harbor ill-feeling for any one. That can prompt even the wicked to reciprocate. The internal purity and just as well as moral character can arouse kind feeling even among the wicked people.
Gändhiji had pacified the temper to an extent where he felt affection even for those who differed from him. He had eradicated the fear. Alone and unprotected, he braved the threats of assassins. He declared that if he were to die comfortably in bed, he should not have been called the Mahatma. Food meant to him nothing more than the fuel to keep the bodily machine running. He kept rigorous control over all other needs and had annihilated the desires
The concept of nonviolence was till then mostly restricted to not causing physical hurt. The concept meant that if some one hurts or abuses us, we should not reciprocate and should forgive him. Gändhiji insisted on extending the concept to every level. If a drunk abuses, if a delirious hurts us, do we retaliate? Do we not pity their lot? The wicked also are disease stricken and should be dealt with compassion. His concept of just treatment to everyone, refusal to tolerate injustice and equality of every one led him to fight against the social evils like untouchablity. He called it a bane and fought against it till it was eradicated. Similarly he removed the fetters that the women were suffering from and brought them in line with the males.
His main contribution lies in use of Ahinsä in the political realm. Since foreign rule was the greatest injustice to the people of India, he started the struggle for independence and gave the call for civil disobedience. By abstaining from violence during the struggle, he wrested the moral advantage from the British rulers. By breaking the law peacefully, he showed the injustice of the law. By accepting punishment voluntarily, he confronted the captors with their brutality. By undertaking fast unto death, he demonstrated the extent to which he was willing to go for defending the truth. He thus rendered the continuation of British rule an impossibility. That eventually resulted in grant of independence.
Gandhiji's approach is grossly being misused at present. The people resort to Satyagrah for redressing their grievances, but disregard his insistence on moral standards. Their grievances are mostly feigned and are against the interests of the society. They forget that Gändhism minus morality is not merely
zero; it has a negative value. The sooner they turn from that, the better would it serve Gändhiji's cause.
Surprisingly enough, Jains had adopted several abuses from the Hindu community. Untouchability was the foremost. Since we had borrowed the concept that eclipse occurs by virtue of obstruction caused by Rähu and Ketu, and since they were considered evil planets close to the rank of Shudra, we believed our temples to be polluted by an eclipse and they were required to be washed after an eclipse. We had also adopted the lower stature for women and were embedded with the concept of higher and lower classes, etc. The Jain concepts of non-possession and the purpose of monastic life were distorted. Gändhiji's mission changed that. His contribution to Jainism is thus immeasurable. No wonder that thousands of Jains, inclusive of some monks, joined his movement and accepted his leadership.
His concept of non-possession or Aprigrah is of utmost importance to Jainism. He termed non-possession as essential for observance of Ahinsa. Non-possession normally leads to inactivity, to parasitism; Gändhiji rendered it active while practicing it to the utmost extent. Many of his close followers managed to see that their sons were well placed. Nehru, in particular, virtually set up his dynasty. But the progeny of Gandhij became a part of the common folk.
In the name of Ahinsa we, Jains, have developed pacifism. We have encouraged inactivity on the ground that every activity leads to Karma. But Jainism has no objection to the laymen undertaking the required activities. It urges doing everything with Yatanä, the awareness. We are familiar with the concept of Samiti. Yatanä is the essence of Samities. We should observe that to the possible extent and undertake the activities with detached mind. We should also develop the sense of amity for all. By virtue of birth in a Jain family, we have inherited the privileges, like vegetarianism, non-alcoholism, tolerance and not killing or hurting. We should become conscious of those privileges and go ahead by developing servicing and helping attitude. Can we afford to remain unconcerned at the distress faced by others?.
On the global scale we are now witnessing two contradictory trends. One is the rise of vegetarianism in West on health ground. We need to bring the significance of prevention of cruelty to the notice of such people. The second is the rise of terrorism in the form of hijacking, suicidal attacks etc. Its roots lie in fanaticism, intolerance, misplaced faith and easy availability of weapons of mass destruction. How to avert that is a problem. It seems that only way is to extend compassion and the right understanding to the evil-doers. There is no alternative. That method will take time but we need to have patience for that.
JAIN DIGEST WINTER 2002/27