Mahavira and his Teaching

Author(s): C C Shah, Rishabhdas Ranka, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Bhagwan Mahavir 2500th Nirvan Mahotsava Samiti

Page 208

"THUS SPAKE MAHĀVĪRA”
201
Karmic bondage, it is restored to its original state which is one of eternal bliss and unending calm. This is called Siddhahood in Jain terminology and it is attainable equally by one and all irrespective of caste or creed, if they have disciplined themselves in accordance with the injunctions laid down in Jaina Šāstras. This type of catholicity is unparallelled in the sense that it is found in no religious system anywhere.
Looking differently, Jainism is a system of ethics much more than a religion. It is characterized by the strictest discipline and severe austerity, not only for the monks and the nuns but also for the laity. To be called a true, bona fide Jaina, one must cultivate faith which should be total. If one has faith, everything else will come in due course of time but if he has no faith, it is useless if he is Jaina in other respects. This accounts for the fact that Right Faith is the first of the three requisites required to lead one on to the final goal of emancipation.
Right conduct means, in addition to other drills and disciplines, the practising of the Five Vows which are Noninjury, Truth, Non-stealing, Continence and Possessionlessness. These vows are not the special features of Jainism only. They are enunciated and enjoined in other faiths also but the point is that their application according to Jainism has the utmost rigours and fine subtleties to be rarely found elsewhere. The way in which the principle of non-injury is elaborated in Jainism bears this out. Ahimsā does not merely mean Ahimsā in action. It means much more than this. It also includes Ahimsā in words and Ahimsā in thoughts even. There is a general misbelief that the Jaina principle of Ahimsā is a negative one. It is not so because it also implies that it is as good as injuring a person if he is not helped when we are in a position to do so but do not do so intentionally. Final aim of an individual being his own redemption, it is true that more accent is put in Jainism on individualistic aspect than on the social objective. Purity of mind more than anything else is the sine qua non of the Jaina ethics. Ascetic processes and procedures without it do not take one any farther. M.M.-26