Book Title: Mahavira Jayanti Smarika 1964
Author(s): Chainsukhdas Nyayatirth
Publisher: Rajasthan Jain Sabha Jaipur

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Page 201
________________ 30 ness. It creates a way for an honourable understanding and removes mistrust among them. Gandhiji said, "Love is the strongest force the world possesses and yet it is the humblest imaginable. The hardest heart and the grossest ignorance must disappear before the rising sun of suffering without anger and without malice. Love makes a man invincible and can unite the whole world in one bond and will be more effective than the ties secured by agreemennt on paper or by arms. We have seen that love acts as a great channel of sublimation for our ego which is the root cause of all our evils. It reduces frustration to a minimum and reduces anger, resentment and violence. What is necessary today is to change the mind and heart of the people and these changes cannot be affected by killing or wounding the opponents which creates in them a feeling of retaliation and hatred, but by pursuing them to adopt new ideas and assumptions by love." A man adhered to the principles of love and non-violence never indulges in extravagance of thought, action and deed and practises the greatest self-restraint because of his to be detached from all unnecessary things. Attachment breeds desires which, if not satisfied, causes dissatisfaction, sorrow and frustration. Frustration, in its turn, brings violence. It makes man selfish and a selfish man is the saddest man in the world. It is why Mahavir, Buddha, and Gandhi all preached to keep self-restraint, non-possession and 'Aparigarh'. They went even to such an exent as to advising the man to retain only things of his barest necessity and discarding others. Fasting is also a sort Jain Education International of self-restraint and it grows strength of soul in man. Multiplication of wants. increases velocity of dissatisfaction and therefore, spirit of non-possession is very essential as love and exclusive possession can never go together. Because a nonviolent man is not selfish and loves everyone irrespective of anything, therefore, he practises tolerance also. Tolerance sheds off man's false notions of superiority of one's religion over the other, as he believes in the oneness of God and a spiritual unity in all the human beings. Looking at all religions with an equal eye brings forth adherants of other religions into confidence of the non-violent man. Tolerance necessarily does not mean indifference to one's own faith, rather a more intelligent and purer love for it. It gives us spiritual insight and breaks down the barriers between faith and faith and man and man. It broadens his outlook and brings the entire humanity under his orbit. Forgiveness Non-violence is the extreme limit of forgiveness but forgiveness is the quality of brave. Non-violence is impossible without fearlessness. As non-violence. is superior to violence, similarly forgiveness is superior to punishment. Forgiveness adorns a soldier. But it is meaningless if a weak fellow unable to strike pretends forgiveness out of cowardiceness. Abstinence is forgiveness only when there is the power to punish. A man who fears none on earth would consider it troublesome even to show anger against one who is vainly trying to injure him. Non-violence and Cowardice Thus there is no room for cowardice or even weakness in the dictionary of a For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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