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understanding”. Acharya Mahaprajna himself has been honoured with the Indra Gandhi Ekta Award in 2002 for his continuous efforts to establish peace, goodwill, and respect for each other and to promote non-violence. He had previously been honoured with the National Ethics Award. The Indian Government also issued special postage stamps at the occasion of the 2600th anniversary of Mahāvīra's birth and in memory of various great Jain leaders of the past.
We also recall that late Dr. L. M. Singhvi, former High Commissioner of India to United Kingdom, was a very devout and active Jain.
3) On science and economy
In the history of India, numerous very learned Jains have written treatises on scientific matters. As French Professor Allegre has written in one of his recent books, Jains are the first to have discovered the atom. They have been too the first to assert that several solar, lunar and stellar systems exist in the universe. Jain scientists are also masters in astronomy and astrology. Stars, moon and planets have a great influence in their festivals and religious ceremonies or rites. They always ask astrologers auspicious dates for important events.
On scientific level, Jains are ardent upholders of progress in every domain that favours well-being of humanity. They are absolute defenders of peace and unconditional opponents to wars and production of weapons for individual or massive destructions.
On mathematics, Walter Schubring has depicted the Jains as "Indians whose system is ruled by numbers”. They count, enumerate and classify everything that plays a role in their life and their religion. For instance: they identify five kinds of "jiva", those having only one sense, and those with two, three, four or five senses. They believe
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