Jainism and World Problems

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown

Page 42

JÁINISM AND WORLD PROBLEMS
If we are aspiring after freedom and liberty for ourselves, we shall have to confer them first of all on our neighbours, remote and near, and to restore what we have robbed another of by trickery or force of arms.
Is this a big order, in any sense ? No, by no means, if the ideal is to be rid of fear altogether and for all times.
We should in this Hall realize that the world is set really in opposition to the Soul, or, as it is put in the Bible, to God. What shall, then, a man or a nation, gain by worldconquest if it will lead to the ruination of the souls? You may prosper for a time on the path of selfishness and hatred in this world ; but even here the triumph of the selfish is never permanent and secure; it is sure to be brought to nought one day. Unfortunately the intoxication of power is very terrible and overpowering; and while it lasts it leads men to think that they are very clever and able to get over all situations. This is the great delusion.
Knowledge of the Laws of the Spiritual nature and Universal Love will, then, alone rid us of fear and make us God-like.
The question which now arises is : what is to be done to give a practical shape to these suggestions?
In answering this, I would say that we should do everything that should be done to make men understand their Spiritual nature, and to practise Universal Love (ahimsa).
The men of to-day are very shallow-witted and too impatient to undertake an arduous task like the study of Religion as a science. They are ignorant of the laws that operate on the spiritual side of life, and know nothing of the psychology of the soul, and yet have not the least hesitation in pronouncing an opinion of their own on the most troublesome of the problems of religion, not hesitating even to differ from the teachings of the Founders of their own Religion, as if they themselves were equally qualified to speak on the subject. This is due to the modern