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JAIN : MESSAGE OF LORD MAHĀVĪRA
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desire to live. They detest sorrow and death and desire a long and happy Life. Hence one should not inflict pain on any creature, nor have any feeling of antipathy or enmity. One should be friendly towards all creatures" (Acāranga sutra, 1.2.3.4).
Nature of Violence
According to the theory of causation (Karma), violence leads to bondage and defilement of soul, thus delaying its liberation. The injurer soul suffers from the passions accompanying the act of causing injury and the injured one forms a sense of enmity and hatred towards the injurer. This perpetuates the cycle of birth and death by defilement of both the souls.
The rationale behind the principle of non-violence is the equality of all living beings. Lord Mahāvīra says, "Not to kill any living being is the quintessence of all wisdom. Certainly, one has to understand that non-violence and equality of all living beings are essentials of Dharma" (Sūtra-kstanga-sūtra, 1.11.10).
Integral view of life
Jainism takes an integral view of life. Either faith or only knowledge by itself cannot take us to the path of salvation. We should have a combination of right faith, right knowledge and right conduct to tread the path of salvation. These constitute the three jewels of Jainism. Without right faith, there is no right knowledge and without right knowledge there is no virtuous conduct. Lord Mahavira says, “By knowledge one understands the nature of substances, by faith one believes in them, by conduct one puts an end to the flow of karmas and by austerity one attains purity (Uttaradhyayana-sūtra).
Concept of Karma
The significant achievement of Tīrthankara Mahāvīra's revolution in spiritual field was the upholding of the concept of Karma in place of the creator God. He said that man is the architect of his own destiny and he can rise only by his own efforts and not by the grace of any external agency. God is devoid of attachment, hence there is no need for him to create this universe, which is beginningless and endless.
Every inexplicable event in the life of an individual is due to the karmas accumulated in his previous birth. Karma is conceived as something essentially material which gets interlined with immaterial soul. As particles of dust get attached to the body smeared with oil, so does karma with the soul. Lord Mahāvīra says, "Attachment and
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