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JAIN JOURNAL VOL-XXXVIII, NO. 3 JAN. 2004
political planes. As the Jains believe that it is himsa or injury to life, which is the root cause of all evils, they offer the contrary, namely, ahimsa as the method and means of salvation.
Problems of Fundamentalism and Exclusivism: All religions acknowledge oneness of the source, plurality of paths, and advocate respect, openness and understanding: Hinduism reveals the One Being behind the diversity of gods. "They have called him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and the divine fine winged Garuda; They speak of Indra, Yama, Matarisvan: the One Being sages call by many names." 2 Another Hindu text Srimad Bhāgavatam says that "Truth has many aspects. Infinite truth has infinite expressions. Though the sages speak in divers ways, they express one and the same Truth." It is the ignorant who says, "What I say and know is true; others are wrong. It is because of this attitude of the ignorant that there have been doubts and misunderstandings about God. This attitude it is that causes dispute among men. But all doubts vanish when one gains self-control and attains tranquillity by realizing the heart of Truth. Thereupon dispute, too, is at an end."3 Hence the text exhorts all to "shun all pride and jealousy. Give up all idea of me and mine........As long as there is consciousness of diversity and not of unity in the Self, a man ignorantly thinks of himself as a separate being, as the "door" of actions and the experiencer of effects, he remains subject to birth and death, knows happiness and misery, is bound by his own deeds, good or bad."4 And a person should act like the wise. He should, "Like the bee, gathering honey from different flowers, the wise man accepts the essence of different scriptures and sees only the good in all religions."
Islam believes that there is no compulsion in religion." It goes on to say that it was God who had ordained for each one a path. "To
2. Rig Veda 1. 164.46, Quoted in World Scripture - A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts, A Project of the International Religious Foundation, Edited by Andrew Wilson, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi, First Indian Edition, 1993, p. 35
3. Śrimad Bhagavatam 11.15 Ibid. p. 39
4.
5.
6.
Ibid. 11.4 on p. 291
Ibid. 11.3 on p. 40
Islam. Qur'an 2.256, Ibid. p. 39
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