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JAINISM : A WAY OF LIFE
SHRI B. P. WADIA
If one is always humble, steady, free from curiosity and deceit; if he abuses nought; if he holds not to his wrath; if he listens to friendly advice; if he is not proud of his learning; if he finds no fault with any or ought; if he is patient with friends; if he speaks well even of a bad friend when he is absent; if he abstains from quarrels; if he is polite, gracious, calm and endeavours to gain enlightenment--then he is named "the well-behaved”.
-Uttaradhyayana Sūtra The two wars have made the world very different. Those of us who lived and laboured before 1914 and after 1918 saw a great change in human outlook. With the end of the second war a different kind of world emerged in which the human individual has been deprived of his initiative to a very great extent. Karl Capek's visionary robot of the twenties is now strutting on the world stage. Men are not able to call their souls their own; they are made to think along lines drawn for them; they are invited to feel and use emotions for the glory of their State; the citizen in many countries exists for the benefit of his own government and his personal life is greatly narrowed and restricted. Hitler, who is reported to have committed suicide after his defeat, seems to have emerged a victor. Hitlerism is to the fore in the countries which won the war. Russia's roots in totalitarian soil have gained strength. The concept of the Welfare State is founded upon the idea that what is good for or bad for the citizen is to be decided by the State. What does he know about his own welfare !
The dignity of the human individual has fallen. Alas, man himself has contributed substantially to the loss of his liberty; he has allowed himself to be cajoled and pushed into the almost slavish position which now is his. He has done this for the most part not self-consciously. The starting point is traceable to his false attitude to his religion. Loss of knowledge of religion and its true principles has brought in blind belief, superstition and irreligious living. Instead of becoming a way of life man's religion has become largely ritualistic observances, gesticulations and mummery. His spiritual and secular life are two different compartments. He is exploited by the politician today because he has allowed himself to be exploited
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