________________
Ahimsa as the Key to World Peace*
CHAMPAT RAI JAIN
If I were asked to name one remedy for all forms of ills the fleshis heir to, I would at once say ahimsā.
Ahimsa which means not hurting, not injuring, is the principal weapon of Jainism to fight with aganist all kinds of evils and misforttunes. By practising it men have attained to the Divine Status, and all that is implied in that expression. It is not a mere theory that I am putting before you; times out of number has the principle been put to the test and never been known to fail.
Jainism points out the natural antagonism between the soul and matter; the body is the prison of the soul, and flesh its bitterest enemy. Owing to the dominion of the fiesh the soul is undergoing suffering in a number of ways, and all its rank and power have been lost. Immortal by nature, it is now living terror-struck with Death; though omniscient and blissful in its own right, it is ignorant and miserable now!
Yet its Divine nature has not been altogether destroyed; only its Perfection in that regard has been curtailed and imposed upon, as its wings were sewn up, and it has been reduced to the condition of helplessness in consequence.
The evil influence of the flesh can, however, be destroyed, and the soul released from its power. And ahimsa is the one weapon which can actually bring about this devoutly wished for consummation.
Wherever ahimsa has been put into practice, it has speedily cut the bondage of flesh, and restored the lost Divinity and Perfection to the Soul. Jainism, therefore, rightly lays all the stress it can on the practising of ahimsa, that is non-violence, under all circumstances.
The significance of ahimsa is that you should hurt no one, by word, thought or deed; and you must not even entertain the desire to hurt any one. For the doctrine is applicable to all the three stages of evil-doing, namely, intention, preparation and the actual commission of the wrongful deed.
* Delivered at Morrison Hotel, Chicago, under the auspices of the World Fellowship of Faiths, on 30th August, 1933.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
