Jaina Philosophy

Author(s): Virchand R Gandhi, Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: World Jain Confederation

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The Jaina Philosophy
He was highly critical of Christian missionaries who indulged in proselytism and tried to project a negative image of India. He asserted that compassion for an Indian is not confined to Sundays but it is an everyday affair extended to every living organism, including nature. The Indian religious rituals and festivals are wrongly interpreted as blind beliefs, he said, but they have a basis in scientific laws. Every Hindu washes their hands and feet before every meal and this is what the Christians call a scientific principle. This practice is part and parcel of a Hindu's daily routine. The missionaries profess to educate the Indian masses. To them Virchand Gandhi counters by saying: 'Why do you want to educate us? Is it a ploy to trap the Hindu fish in a Christian net?'
The missionary institutions, according to him, provide education which mislead the Indian youths. Some of them indulge in defaming India and criticizing Hinduism. 'Without the knowledge of Sanskrit, how does one claim to understand Hindu religion?' he asks. "If they are prepared to argue in Sanskrit with me, I am willing to trust them", he asserted. "Why do these missionaries, who claim to be Godfathers of the poor, do not question the heavy taxes on the Hindus who do not have even two square meals ?" he asks. They spent millions of dollars on the notification proclaiming Queen Victoria as the ruler of India, but not a pie was spent for the five thousand people who died of starvation. Where is their compassion? Such inconvenient questions he raised before the assembly of Christians. Finally, he has a word of advice for the missionaries :
"In one sentence, the method I advocate is that of 'Selfrecognition' the education of all the faculties of body and of soul, devoutly recognizing responsibility to the Infinite or universal good. Such propagandism, whatever it may be supposed to lack, would never want success, would never fail to meet with responsive co-operation in all lands among all people and would from the start and for ever make the world better and better."
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