________________
The Jaina Philosophy
Jaina. No man can point to any instance in the history of my people where any man was ever persecuted for religious opinion's sake. Our very language does not contain an equivalent word for the English word "persecution". We have words in our language in the ancient Sanskrit, that cover the whole ground of justice, purity, of goodness, of love and of all the sweet beatitudes of the soul's attainment, but not one word that means malice, persecution or tyranny for religious opinion's sake.
It may be objected to this statement of mine, which objection may be founded on statements of distinguished ecclesiastics, such as Bishop Caldwell, who has lived in India for many years, that the Hindus worship gods of destruction, but acquaintance with us will prove that we do not worship gods in the sense conveyed, but they represent to us ideas of retribution, and penalty and destruction for the wrongdoing and misdoing of man, and we seek to appease wrath and propitiate justice by approaching the methods of a holy life. This same Bishop says: "The people of India worship as gods, Vishnu, Shiva, Krishna and various similar gods. The very names of these divinities are unknown in any other country - Shiva, Visnu and the rest of the Hindu divinities are worshipped as gods by the people of India alone. If they were really gods, they would certainly be gracious to the people of India. They would certainly give proof of it by abasing the white men, who do not worship them, and by exalting their worshipers; they would bestow on the Hindu unbounded wisdom, power and prosperity, and would probably give to them the government of the rest of mankind. How widely different is the condition of the Hindus, the supreme government of every part of India is in the hands of Christians.".
This is the sheet anchor of the argument of Christian superiority in India, but that is an old, old argument. The Mohammedans, for 800 years, have presented the same argument with the sword in one hand and the Koran in the other.
Jain Education International
230
NKSNoms
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
