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ANSWERES TO OBJECTIONS ON
POSITIVE NON-VIOLENCE
In this chapter an effort is being made to answer the objections raised by several sects of Jaina tradition that consider the activities of positive non-violence such as mercy, kindness, compassion, benevolence charity, service, affection, protection etc., as unacceptable and abandonable.
1. Objection - All activities of the mind, body and speech generate karma, no matter they be the activities of mercy, kindness, compassion, benevolence charity, service, affection, protection etc.,. Therefore, all auspicious activities cause karmic bondage. Karmic bondage is unacceptable and abandonable, not acceptable.
Answer - It is true that activity is in the form of action, but all actions do not result in karmic bondage; there are many activities that do not. Only those activities result in karmic bondages that are associated with passions and desires and expectations of mundane pleasures and the feelings of doership and enjoyership. Those activities that naturally result from karmic fruition and without any feeling of doership and enjoyership and which are done with the feelings of a seer and a watcher do not cause any karmic bondage. That is why such activities have been said to be non-destructive and not even partially destructive. For example – the fully detached omniscient Lords Jina have continuous activities of the body, mind and speech but they do
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Positive Non-Violence
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