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The Conduct of a House holder
115 tioned by religion, violence is no sin.1 Everything can be offered to gods including flesh of animals, as religion flourishes through gods. But this argument should not be used for violence.
Puruşārthasiddhyupāya refers to some other strange beliefs. One of these beliefs is that if a person is killed when he is in a state of happiness, that state will continue in future life also.3 Another belief is that if a person engrossed in deep meditation is killed he gets liberation. The third group called kharapaţikās believed that liberation automatically comes at the dissolution of body. All violence under such misconceptions is condemned.
Under no pretext, therefore, can violence be justified. The implication of the precept of non-violence in Jainism is manifold. It is against all cruelty towards animals. It is against wars even though it gives us the right of self-defence. It guarantees freedom of thought, speech and action to all alike and it asks us to shun violence in the name of religion. This force of non-violence became a powerful weapon, recognised by all, under the dynamic personality of Gandhiji. Nonviolence means victory over one's baser instincts, the unbridled expression of which is sometimes wrongly eulogised as bravery. The vow of truthfulness
The word 'satyam' conveys much wider meaning than the English word 'truth'. In Brāhmaṇism it indicates not only the ethical principle of truthfulness but also the metaphysical reality. The following points may be noted as regards the conception of satyam in Jainism; (1) Satyam refers to an ethical principle rather than to abstract metaphysical entity as Brahman; (2) Mere statement of fact is not truth unless it is
1. Puruşārthasiddhyupāya, 79. 2. Ibid., 80. 3. Ibid., 86. 4. Ibid., 87. 5. Ibid., 88. 6. FRI TITAFETTI
-Taittariyopanişad, 2.1.1. Here the word 'satyam' is used in its abstract metaphysical sense.
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