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THE DEVELOPMENT OF JAINISM
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In March 1949, Acharya Shri Tulsi announced the beginning of the anuvrat movement and himself headed it. His thesis about antidogmatism serves the basis of his teaching. He thinks that the synthetical approach to contemporary problems is the best approach and that one must not be carried away either by ancient or by ultra-modern ideas, especially by blind imitation of the West. In his opinion the main problem confronting Man is liberation from vices.
He sees the essence of the conflict between communism and capitalism in that the accumulation of wealth in one pole gives rise to the attempts towards aggression and destruction from the other pole. He therefore appeals to resolve this conflict by reducing to the minimum grabbing operations and by restricting grabbing instincts. He calls upon the society to negotiate and peacefully resolve all internal conflicts.
However, Acharya Shri Tulsi's appeal to review the traditional approach to philanthropic activity and also to reconsider whether it is necessary to give alms to beggars was something new for Jainism, as for all the Indian religious faiths. He preaches that it was only because religion promises posthumous bliss for this help that the society could compel the rich to part with certain part of their wealth in the name of help to the poor. But the more that is given to the poor, the more will be the number of the poor in this world.
Like the leaders of the movement of Sarvodaya, Acharya Shri Tulsi asserts that it is possible to satisfy human needs only by organising cooperatives and by drawing in all the members of society for joint efforts. He considers that only that nation has the right to be proud, which does not have beggars and not that which bases itself on charity to seven million."
Acharya Shri Tulsi, like Shri Vinoba Bhave, the head of the Sarvodaya and Bhudan (gift of land) movement, considers that gift of land is not only an act of charity but an act of redistribution of land on the basis of justice. According to
4. Sarvodaya (literally-universal prosperity, universal well-being) is a term introduced by M. Gandhi for the first time which expresses the ideal of classless society based on the principle of non-violence—Ahimsa.
5. Muni Shri Nagaraji, Pity and Charity in the New Pattern of Society, p. 14.
