Lord Mahavira and His Teachings

Author(s): Vallabhsuri Smarak Nidhi
Publisher: Vallabhsuri Smarak Nidhi

Page 57

Lord Mahavira and His Teachings
have to stop the race of armaments and have unbiased faith Samyag Darshna in the effective force of Ahimsa. Greek philosopher Pythagoras once said : "Fix on the course of life which is the most excellent, and custom will render it the most delightful.” Jainism believes that force from above evokes fraud from below. Violence should be more terrible than that of opponent if it wants to succeed. Who can claim final and absolute victory in the race of armaments? Like Arjuna the nations believing in violent means shall have to declare, "Nor do we know which for us is better whether we conquer them or they conquer us." Ahimsa teaches us that recourse to armed force is not only infallible sign of the brute in man, but that war neither profits victor nor vanished.
Only a few nations can afford to compete in armament race, but all the nations can easily afford to arm themselves morally. The famous scholar, A. J. Toynbee writes in his "Study of History"_"The truth seems to be that the sword which has once drunk blood cannot be permanently restrained from drinking blood again any more than a tiger which has once tasted human flesh can be prevented from becoming a maneater."
Ahimsa as preached by Jaina Tirthankaras is effectively helpful in establishing world peace in another way as well. One of the outcomes of Jaina Ahimsa is that it emphasises the intellectual aspect of non-injury. It expects us not to injure, disregard or abhor the views of others. The philosophy of Syadvada or non-Absolutism, a special feature of Jaina Ahimsa, tries to harmonise all conflicting interests,