Book Title: Selected Speeches of V R Gandhi
Author(s): Virchand R Gandhi
Publisher: Vallabhsuri Smarak Nidhi Godiji Jain Derasar Mumbai
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end of human action. Jainism teaches to look upon all living beings as upon oneself. What then is the mode of attaining the highest happiness? The sacred books of the Brāhmaṇas prescribe devotion and Karma. The Vedānta indicates the path of knowledge as the means to the highest. But Jainism goes a step farther and says that the highest happiness is to be obtained by knowledge and religious observances. The five Mahāvratas or great commandments for Jaina ascetics are :
Not to kill, i.e., to protect all life; not to lie ; not to take that which is not given ; to abstain from sexual intercourse; to renounce all interest in worldly things, especially to call nothing one's own.
Classes in Jaina Philosophy
Once the whole civilized world embraced this doctrine. Many philosophers have upheld it. Scientists like Flammarion, Figuier and Brewster have advocated it. Theologians like Müller, Dorner and Edward Beecher have maintained it. The Bible and sacred literature of the east are full of it, and it is today accepted by the majority of the world's inhabitants.
People are talking of design in nature. But what does the idea of design lead to ? Design means contrivance, adaptation of means to an end. But the necessity of contrivance, the need of employing means, is a consequence of the limitation of power. Who would have recourse to means if to attain his end his mere word was sufficient ?
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