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many problems It had been realised long ago that owing to the very nature of the life-processes, absolute non-violence is not practicable There are conditions or occasions in human life when violence is inevitable, a necessary evil which is done out of a sense of love, pity or duty, and this is the most controversial part of this doctrine When is violence justified, and in what forms and to what extent ? Some of Gandhi's teachings and practices in this regard were condemned by orthodox Jainas Even among the Jainas, there is no common understanding for the practice of non-violence Even among the monks, many reject the use of loudspeakers, many keep a piece of cloth for covering the mouth to avoid violence to the air-Jivas
The disagreement among the protagonists of the doctrine of non-violence is embarrassing This predicament is due to the fact that like other such terms as Asteya, Aparigraha, etc, a negative term was chosen to command pepole to refrain from certain acts A positive word alone could have given a positive content to the idea The positive content however remains in the background To realise this positive content, we have to go behind the word and see the spirit The spirit of the doctrine can be represented by the term 'love' Jainism has given the most comprehensive doctrine of non-violence in the sense that it has given the most comprehensive doctrine of love It is love without limitation Jainism does not preach love in any narrow sense
It does not mean love for any particular Jiva or class of Jivas Love here means respect for all life He who has respect for any thing would normally refrain from causing injury or pain to it The teachers of non-violence therefore maintain that an act of violence does not involve sin if the motive is good Motive thus becomes more important than the actual act This brings us to the Kantian view that there is nothing in the world or even out of it that can be called good without qulification except good-will Good-will is therefore the supreme virtue of life, and the concept of non-violence is inseparable from the concept of goodwill, so that any act done out of ill-will is violent The positive content in the doctrine of non-violence is therefore the inherent good-will of the person which manifests itself in respect for all life, and violence, if any, done out of good-will is only to be tolerated and treated as a surgical operation to restore the equilibrium if and when that equilibrium is lost or disturbed owing to the manifestation of ill-will on the part of some Jivas here and there
In conclusion, we can say that though the positive content of the doctrine of non-violence cannot be fixed like a mathematical formula, a positive and universal good-will provides an essential and inseparable content to it
Associate Professor of Philosophy University of Jodhpur Jodhpur (Rajasthan)
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