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Jainism: The Cosmic Vision
confined to religion or to the progress of the soul, but, he said, it should permeate one's life and be reflected in every field of activity. It can be practised by children and the young, women and the old. There are two conditions necessary. Love for all and a steadfast belief in God, whom love is personified. It should become a way of life, he emphasised, and be used for achieving world peace.
Gandhi's concept of non-violence was influenced by anekant philosophy. In 1925, he observed in Young India : “I believed that I was always right and my honest critics wrong. But now I realise that we both were right in our own ways. Then I stopped criticising my opponents or critics. I learnt that I must try to look at the situation or a problem from a Muslim's or a Sikh's point of view." He later said, "My principle of anekant is based on two things - truth and non-violence."
Gandhi protested against the practice of animal killing either for researching drugs or in the name of religion. If one's thoughts or actions are guided by violent ideas, it will be considered as violence, but to speak out bitter truth is not violence. He advocated non-violent struggle against injustice and violence in any form. On October 15, 1931, he wrote in Navjivan "You say non-violent struggle is not possible and have not known a non-violent revolution in history. But my ambition is to provide such an example. My dream is that my country should achieve independence through non-violence and want the world to know that I will not want to make my country independent at the cost of non-violence."
During the time of Mahavira, animal killing, for religious rituals and for food, was resorted to. And during Gandhiji's
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