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Jainism: The Cosmic Vision
violence his two most powerful weapons. Gandhiji's concept of non-violence is not ordinary one. It encompasses a whole gamut of qualities and virtues - sacrifice, justice, compassion, mortification, tolerance, love for one and all. A person needs inner strength to practise non-violence. A votary of nonviolence, he said, would be prepared to face any consequences, including death. Fearlessness is what he should have. Mahavira, Buddha, Ram, Jesus were all fearless souls. If you are prepared to die and if you have no desire to kill, that leads to love and compassion. Compassion, he believed, can effect change of heart in any other person.
For Gandhi, righteous behaviour and sense of justice lead to non-violence. Justice means absence of exploitation. Tolerance can bring about a change of heart, not wielding a sword. On 8th October, 1931, he wrote in Navjivan that man's true legacy is tolerance; fighting with weapons is a jungle law. Soul force is the true source of non-violence and soul is immortal, universal. Strength derived from soul can make a person fearless and non-violent. Once a person realises the strength of his soul, he becomes non-violent. Thus, his nonviolence is not the virtue of a coward, but of a truly brave person. He has observed in the issue of Harijanbandhu of October 13, 1938 in connection with his association with General Smutts : "He began as my bitterest and fiercest opponent and critic, but today he is my dearest friend." To be non-violent does not mean to love one whom we like, but to love whom we like to hate. On 7th July 1946, he wrote in Harijanbandhu after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima : "The moral of this bombing - the most tragic event in History - is that violence can not be destroyed through violence and
A Journey of Ahimsa one bomb can not be destroyed with another more powerful one. For mankind to survive, non-violence is the only way open to it. Love is the antidote to violence, for violence leads to more violence."
If a person can follow and practise his religion with least violence in any form, he / she should avoid it completely. Gandhiji would not permit plucking a flower for worship if one can worship without offering a flower. He drew our attention to a very important fact, namely, the presence of violence in every religion and sect. To hurt the religious feelings of people of a particular sect or to hold their beliefs to ridicule are also subtle forms of violence. This inevitably leads to enmity and hatred. To behave in a way which one's religion does not permit or to impose one's religion, on the strength of power and money on others against their wishes is also tantamount to violence, according to Gandhiji. This resultant violence, says Gandhi, leads to so called holy wars causing untold suffering to the people and the nations as a whole. Therefore, one must learn to respect other's religion and develop a spirit of tolerance and accommodation. One must practise the basic tenets of one's own religion and not indulge in religion conversion.
Gandhiji advocated the building of a political empire on the foundation of non violence and which alone can make the state stable, strong and people-friendly. A political system should be such which gives priority to the welfare of its own people and is not aimed at destroying another weak state or country. If a state or country prospers at the cost of another country, it is nothing but violence, asserts Gandhi and if this mindset does not change, world peace will remain an
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