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JAINA DOCTRINE OF AHIMSA
JAINA DOCTRINE OF AHIMSA.
OM NAMAH SIDDHEBHAYA!
Salutation to the Perfect Men-to MEN who have become PERFECT Themselves and who have taught the Path to PERFECTION to others!
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Salutation to the AHIMSA DHARMA, the Path that leads to Perfection and Bliss and Immortality!
Brethren and Sisters! I am grateful to my friend, the reverend Bhikshu Ananda, who has kindly extended to me the invitation to lecture before you this evening on the Jaina doctrine of Ahimsa.
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Ahimsa is, no doubt, also preached by some other religions-I ought to say by all other religions worthy of that appellation, in some form or other-but its peculiarly Jaina aspect will be explained before you this evening in the course of this lecture. Ahimsa Dharma is eternal but the first TEACHER to preach it in this cycle of time was Rishabha Deva, who founded Jainism very far back in the remoteness of hoary antiquity-so very far back, indeed, that it does not and will not pay us to try to reduce the date of his age to a definite number of years by any means. The Hindus, the Buddhists and the Jains have always recognized the great TEACHER as the real founder of Jainism. They have never disputed that Risabha Deva was the founder of Jainism; but it was reserved for the exponents of modern wisdom and wit, who claim to be guided by what has been described as higher criticism to say that Jainism arose only in the sixth century A. D. Happily, to-day nobody pays any attention to this view; but the moderns have still to learn the methods of appreciation of ancient testimony, though I am not here to decry their learning in all respects. Important evidence furnished by the recent finds at Mohenjo-Daro tends to show unmistakably that Jainism was flourshing in the fifth
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