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In this Our Life
197
The Jaina theory of Ahiṁsā is based on the animistic conception of the universe. Jainism is dualistic. All things are divided into the living and the non-living. The Jainas believe in the plurality of the Jivas, living individuals. The Jivas in the phenomenal world, samsāri jāvas, are classified on the basis of various principles like the status and number of sense organs. There are the sthavara jīvas, the immovable souls. This is a vegetable kingdom. There are one-sensed organisms, like earth-bodied, water-bodied and the plants. They possess the sense of touch. The animals with movements are called trasa jīvas. They have more than one sense and up to five senses according to the degree of development.
The Jivas are possessed of prānas, the life forces. In the Jaina scriptures ten kinds of life forces are mentioned, like the five senses, mind, speech and body, respiration and the age force. The Jivas, possess different forces according to the degree of their perfection.
On the basis of this analysis of the living organisms and the life forces possessed by them, Ahimsā is non injury or nonviolence to any living individual or a life force of the individual by the three Yogas, activities, and three karanas. We are not to injure any living organism, however small it may be, or a life force of the organism directly with our own hands, by causing someone to do so on our behalf, or even giving consent to the act of injury caused by others. These are the three Yogas. For instance, we should not kill an aniinal. We should not mutilate a sense organ of the animal. We should not ourselves do this, we should not cause others to do this nor should we consent to injury caused by others. Practice of Himsā is further qualified by three Guptis they refer to three Karanas. We are asked not to injure any Jiva or prāna physically or in speech or in mind. We should not speak about injury nor should we harbour any thought of injuring an animal.101
101. Tuttvärtha Sūtra and Commentary, VII. 5.
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