Jain Journal 1980 07

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 13

JAIN JOURNAL
We no longer need to live by instinctive feelings of fight or flight. Evolution has placed us on the highest rung of the ladder. From here we can experience all the gifts of the universe. We have five beautiful senses, an excellent brain, a consciousness capable of deep thinking and feeling. Why do we not accept this height ? Because we have not recognized the need to move from thinking consciousness to a deeper level, loving consciousness.
If you want to move in this direction, if you want to enjoy the ecstasy of mental peace, and if you want to become sensitive and responsive to life, you cannot continue to take into body and mind the vibrations of pain and cruelty. How can one develop a tender and compassionate heart if he is immune to the spilling of blood ?
Flesh-eating is the small print of violence, war is the blow-up. We can reverse this. One who would refuse to take the life of any living creature as his food would never have the heart to pick up a gun and shoot a fellow human being. In India, the Jainas, who are known to be strict vegetarians, are never conscripted into the army. The government leaders know that Jainas, who would never even harm an insect, would never be willing to fight and kill. In all of known Jaina history, there never has been a war over religion or dogmatic belief. Instead, there is the philosophy of anekāntavāda, which encourages everyone to respect and tolerate each other's viewpoints and insights, for though Reality is one, when it comes into expression, it is multi-faceted and relative. Once I asked Chief Justice Kotwal of Bombay whether Jainas were ever found guilty of murder. He was surprised by my question. “Never," he answered, "To my knowledge, there was never a case of a Jaina committing murder.”
After you make the decision not to take in anything which is harmful to your body and mind, the second step comes. It is called nirjarā, shedding away. You drop, remove, shed, or bury those hurtful vibrations which you are still holding in your consciousness. They are like stains on the glass of your pure consciousness. The dark heavy colors are staining your natural radiance. If you remove the stains, the hurts, the scars, the ill will, you will see the bright colorless rays of the sun, your pure Self.
In this second step, you sit and ask yourself, "Is my consciousness clean from violence ?" Though your body may be beautiful and though you may be wearing white clothes, you may be in violence. It has nothing to do with outside appearance ; it has everything to do with your inside