Jain Spirit 2000 03 No 03

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 53

HISTORY
Jain Terapanthi Shramanis with young delegates at the JAINA Convention in Philadelphia, July 1999.
ANUVRAT: A JAIN ATOM BOMB?
Acharya Tulsi started a radical movement based on selfcommitment and self-discipline. All change must begin with ourselves, writes S. L. Gandhi n the 1950's, many western celebrities, like Bertrand Russell and Martin Luther King, were organizing huge peace rallies exhorting the people to raise their voice against the senseless genocide caused by the nuclear holocaust in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At the same time, by a strange coincidence, a relatively unknown religious saint of the East, heading a Jain sect, seated far away in a remote town of the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, was engaged in an identical mission. He was Acharya Tulsi. He heard the inner call that commanded him to throw off the yoke of sectarian dogmatism, and launched a crusade against caste, untouchability, subjugation of women and religious intolerance. This inner voice directed the Acharya to launch a
52 Jain Spirit March May 2000
movement for liberating the individual from a bigoted sectarian outlook, fanaticism. The Acharya realized that society couldn't be purged without an inner transformation of man. Instinctively he was motivated by the maxim "In small proportions we just beauties see, And in short measures, life may perfect be."
Acharya Tulsi began his mission by carefully drawing up a code of conduct for all individuals in society. This code consisted of atomic or small vows (anuvrats). He launched what came to be known as the Anuvrat Movement urging the individuals to pledge themselves willingly to observe the anuvrats. The movement embodied a vision of a harmonious society free from exploitation and conflict. It strives for
the middle path, steering clear of the two extremes of absolute asceticism (mahavrats) and unbridled materialism. The Acharya carried his message far and wide covering thousands of miles on foot, encouraging the people to practice the anuvrats.
There is a critical difference between trying to live by Jain principles and taking a vow to observe them. A vow is a promise, an act of commitment made before a God or a Saint. This prevents the commitment from wavering in the future. Acharya Tulsi encouraged people to take vows, not just agree with the principles. A lot of people today say that they live an ethical life but when questioned further, we find that their principles are very fluid and pragmatic. The importance of a vow is a unique aspect of Jainism.
'Like some men at various other places, here is an Indian, lean, thin, short-statured but with shining eyes,