Jainism and Democracy

Author(s): Indra Chandra Shastri
Publisher: I A S S Jain Conference New Delhi

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PANCHA SILA
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mechanical form of religion gave way and the subjective aspect came into prominance. Both, the Vedic as well as the ascetic tradition established a real contact with life. Non-violence, which in ascetic tradition meant merely non killing developed into the positive quality of Universal love, where social as well as the individual virtues are infused together. The vow of abstinance from telling a lie came to be recognized as speaking what is beneficial, brief and sweet. Non-stealing in recognizing the social as well legal rights of others. Abstinance from sexual inter-course into mental chastity and nonpossession into non-attachment. This healthy synthesis was really a remarkable step in the history of civilization.
Let us now discuss the development of the individual precept in the main systems of India, i.e., Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Hinduism, for this purpose, should be further divided into Brahmanic Hinduism and ascetic Hinduism.
In Brahamanic Hinduism, as I have already stated, sacrifice, study and gifts to Brahamans are the main duties of a householder. Every person according to the Vedic society, is born with three debts or obligations. The debt of Gods is repaid through sacrifice, that of the ancient sages through study and that of the ancestors through the birth of male child.
We can see here that all the three duties are very important for a society. The sacrifices apart from their transcandental value, which I think was a later development, were nothing but social gatherings. The Aryans