Mahavir Prince Of Peace

Author(s): Ranchor Prime
Publisher: Mandala Publishing

Page 13

www.kabatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuni Ganmandir
MAHAVIRA
erism in the generation that has come to associate Kyoto not with gardens and meditation, but with protocols predicated upon CO, emissions. All of the Rio Summit, as well as the Valdez and Assisi Declarations and the Agenda 21, were anticipated by the Jain scribes and mendicants who followed in Mahavira's footsteps, as he had, followed in those of innumerable sages before him.
What we do with the all-encompassing belief in nonviolence is a personal affair, say the Jains. Each of us must rise to the challenge; must transform every juncture of every day into the possibility of a poetic gesture of forgiveness, right intentions, love and compassion. The opportunities, of course, are endless. I have always embraced a thorough idealism that marks my own personal journey through life. Somebody once asked me if I was a Jain. My response was: I am trying to be a Jain, just as I am trying to be a human being. But it is probably impossible (at least for me to be a true Jain. That is the essence of Jain idealism: to challenge the individual to forever do better, to become informed and to let the information percolate upward to one's heart to the extent of real feeling, real understanding, real dignity, restraint, modesty and action in a world
that cries out for sensitive, informed, tolerant and compassionate human stewardship and behavior.
When we speak of ethics in the twenty-first century, we are speaking a language of urgency that Jains have known for thousands of years. The task of sustain ing that knowledge and sensitivity and activism in the context of unprecedented tragedy, conflict and global unrest will test this and future generations of Jains like never before. I am hopeful that the Jain community, in its endless diversity and beauty, will embrace the challenges that Mahavira imbibed, pondered and conveyed, and similarly take them to heart.
ThemasterfulB.G.Sharma's tranquilillustrations charmingly reflect the colorful array of dreams and realities that have cloaked Jain tradition and the birth, life and death of Mahavira for 2,500 years. Ranchor Prime himself a global environmentalist who has long strived to bring the religious communities of the world together in defense of nature-has insightfully interpreted the "divine" parable that is the alluring saga of Mahavira's life. Together, they have made acces sible one of the most important legacies in religious and ecological history.
Michael Tobias Ecologist, author and filmmaker