Pristine Jainism

Author(s): S M Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 38

SYMBIOTIC ASPECTS OF JAINISM
Cardinal principle:
Symbiosis or mutualism is the core principle of principles, basis of life, peace and harmony in all animate and inanimate constituents of nature. If a group of people or other living beings interact amongst themselves or other groups for mutual benefit in give and take, it is symbiosis or mutualism. Its opposite is predation when individuals in a group or groups and other groups harm or inflict injury to others for its selfish gain. The honeybee extracts nectar from flowers of plants for its use but simultaneously helps plants in facilitating pollination. This is symbiosis. A hunter for its selfishness kills the prey. This is predation. Imagine a group of people living by helping, co-operating each other. Their life will be peaceful and happy. In contrast if another group lives exploiting each other, then all will be unhappy, more and more miserable and eventually it will be suicidal for all. Nature is basically symbiotic and in its environmental manifestations, the multitudinous constituents both animate and inanimate are intricately interwoven and interact with delicately balanced precise and intrinsic interdependence. It is like an organism, the human body or a complex sophisticated machine. In a human body there are a few hundred trillion cells and each cell is in itself a complete living entity with respiratory, digestive and waste discharge functions, but each cell work for all the trillions of cells and all cells work for each cell. Malfunctioning of a single cell against this orderly system will result in cancerous calamity killing the cell itself and the whole organism. Likewise proper functioning of every part in a machine is necessary for all other parts and vice versa. Each for all and all for each is fundamental for stability, health and progress of one and whole. The very basis of evolution of life is symbiosis, congenial environment. Scientists are unanimous about it that even unicellular spark of life would