Portrait of Jain Religion

Author(s): Narendra Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

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It is pertinent to mention here that while as a religion Jainism has a limited following of 10 million in India and around 300,000 abroad, it has made an abiding impact on India's cultural heritage with its central focus on the practice of nonviolence as compassionate life ethics. Jain religion has not been a proselytizing religion and is open to any one in the society regardless of caste or social status. Its compassionate philosophy has indeed, inspired ethical and humanitarian values in thought and conduct at individual as well as collective levels in India. Despite its emphasis on intense penance and austerity particularly for the monks, Jain religion has survived the vicissitudes of history and the competing space claimed by other faiths in multi-religious India. According to Amartya Sen, the Noble Laureate, Jainism has from the beginning advocated a spirit of synthesis and has vitally contributed to the evolution of cultural pluralism and heterodoxy which has characterized the growth of Indian culture and spirituality from the earliest times. In recent times, Mahatma Gandhi imbibed the traits of love for Truth (SATYA) and abiding faith in Nonviolence (AHIMSA) both in thought and conduct from his Jain Guru-like friend Srimad Rajchandra (1868-1901). The detached life style of Srimad Rajchandra full of equanimity, devotion to truth and compassion had-a lasting influence Gandhiji far greater than even the impact the spiritual outlook of Tolstoy and Ruskin in his formative years. He always recalled with pride that the Jain spirit instilled in him by Srimad Rajchandra gave him the courage and vision to successfully lead India's struggle for freedom from colonial rule through the technique of Satyagraha firmly rooted in the persuasive power and courage of nonviolence. Gandhiji transformed nonviolence from a religious doctrine into a potent spiritual force in the day-to-day life of not only the individual, but also the community and the nation. Until very recent times, Jainism remained, by and large, confined to India. This was largely due to the severe restrictions forming
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A Portrait of Jain Religion