Positive Non Violence

Author(s): Kanhaiyalal Lodha, Dalpatsingh Baya
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

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friendship, service, etc., being the opposite of violence, too constitute Non-violence or Ahimsa.
It would be pertinent to mention here that if there were no positive aspects of Non-violence or Ahimsa, it would be meaningless as a religious or moral principle meant for spiritual uplift. No philosophical system or organization can stand only on the strength of negative thought content.
It will also be apt to give some examples from the Jain texts. According to Tattvārtha Sūtra, acceptable equally across all the subsects of the Swetambara and Digambara sects of Jaina tradition, liberation cannot be achieved unless there is right belief, right knowledge and right conduct. Out of the five characteristics of right belief, mentioned in the explanatory works like Tattvārtha Bhāșya ‘Anukampa' or 'Compassion' is one.' Thus without anukampa or compassion there cannot be right belief and without right belief there cannot be liberation. In this context how can a liberating element be the cause of Karmic bondage?
Kundkundacharya, the great Digambara Acharya in his famous work Pancastikaya says that one who is moved by the travails of the thirsty, hungry and miserable and treats them kindly, is said to be compassionate.
Veerasenacharya, another earlier great spiritual master of the Digambara tradition, has said in the Dhavalā commentary on Şațkhandāgama that karuņā (compassion) is the inherent nature of all living beings and that if liberation cannot be achieved through pious thoughts and actions such as mercy, kindness and compassion, it just cannot be achieved.
Physiologically too, a person without the normal human qualities of empathy, brotherhood etc., is not treated as normal. In our day-today life a person devoid of compassion is considered inhuman and
1.
Tadevan prasama-samvega-nirvedānukampāstikyābhivyakti-laksanam tattvārthaśraddhānai samyagdarśanam |
-Sabhāsya tattvārthaādhigamasutra. 1.2
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