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DHARMA IN PRACTICE.
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bring the followers of all of them on a common platform. So far, however, as Jainism is concerned, it is perfectly free from the rules of caste, those professing it forming only one community, notwithstanding the fact that several schisms have given rise to different sects and sub-sects among its followers. In this respect it resembles modern Christianity which includes Roman Catholics, Protestants and others who hold many more points of faith in common than otherwise. There can obviously be no question of losing caste, or religion, by intermarriage among the different sects of one and the same community, though it is not countenanced on the ground of its not being conducive to the peace of the family, as already shown.
We now come to a consideration of the principle of ahimsâ which is described as the highest form of dharma (religion), and which must be observed if release from samsâra be the ideal in view. Unfortunately this is one of those doctrines which has been grossly misunderstood by men--by some on account of an inadequate acquaintance with the basic truths of religion, and by others because of a fanciful notion that its observance interferes with the enjoyment of pleasures of taste and the realisation of dreams of world-power. We shall consider both these objections one by one before explaining the actual practical application of this doctrine.
Firstly, as regards the pleasures of taste, it will be seen that taste is merely an acquired thing, and that it is not in the food which tastes differently at different times and under different circumstances, but in the attitude of the soul towards it. This is evident from the
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