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a species is already extinct and many more are at the verge of extinction. Are many of us moved by this grim reality? The present indicators force us to infer that the answer to this vital question is in the negative. This leads me to another vital question -“Whither are we headed?" Not to the dark doom of the world of concrete and steel - totally bereft of vegetation and other lesser species of living-beings, I hope. If we go at the present rate, that day may not be in too distant a future. And if that happens, how long thereafter the human race, too, will last? ‘Not much longer should be the voice of reason.
What can save the Earth, its flora and fauna, its lifesustaining environment and the human race itself is a realisation of the harmful effects of unnecessary violence and disciplining ourselves so that the human race may continue to live in harmony with other living-beings of the Earth. The answer lies in the concept of Ahimisā or non-violence preached in greater or lesser measure by the seers down the ages – the seers or Prophets that brought various faiths and creeds into being.
The Jaina concept of Ahimsā excels both in form and content as it touches upon the finer facets of non-violence hither to unnoticed by many others. The omniscient Jaina prophets --
Trīrtharkaras – saw the ultimate in violence and the means to overcome it not only at the physical level but at the thought level as well. They spelled the norms for the survival of the members of not only the human race but that of all other species of livingbeings down to the microscopically minute life-forms such as the fine creatures of vegetable origin as well. They presented vividly detailed models to show that the survival of any one species depends on the support and co-operation extended to it by the creatures of other species. In other words they preached non-violence so that the perpetuation of the natural life-cycle can be ensured and no species becomes extinct. They emphasised that harming or extinction of one species jeopardises the survival
AHIMSĀ (NON-VIOLENCE): 49
