Book Title: Shekharchandra Jain Abhinandan Granth Smrutiyo ke Vatayan Se
Author(s): Shekharchandra Jain Abhinandan Samiti
Publisher: Shekharchandra Jain Abhinandan Samiti

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Page 507
________________ 462 1 can be summarized: Aspire for yourself. Do not aspire for others. This is the funda1 mental principal of Jainism (Samana Suttam, Gatha, 24). Jainism holds that the entire world, including palnts, trees, birds, animals, water, and so forth, is possessed of life. It is our prime duty to protect all this. We are to I treat others, as we want ourselves to be treated, and this refers not only to other 1 people but also to the entirety of our planet. One is therefore expected to respect | the land and its natural beauty. Jainism does so philosophically by accepting the i principle of the interdependent existence of nature and animals. Ecology sees the individual as interconnected with both nature and the fabric of society. Ecological theory considers the community the supra-organism, the complex social organism. Therefore, the Jain tradition instructs the Jain laity to keep the community very pure and pious. They are supposed not to indulge in obnoxious habits (Vyasanas), which make life disastrous. A Jain should be a strict vegetarian. He should not indulge in professions related to violence, such as dealing in weap1 ons. Jain laymen also practice the twelve types of Vratas, which assist us in elimi nating corruption from society and in purifying ourselves in the process. 1 Nonviolence, the humanistic element is based on the principles of equality and I equanimity as applied in society. Nonviolence still may allow for the theory of caste, but one which is based on one's own deeds and not on one's birth. Jainism tries to shape our attitude toward nature by prescribing humane and nonviolent approaches to everyday behavior. Jainism inspires its followers to safeguard what in contemporary discourse would be called the ecological perspective. Jainas even today practice these principles and religious traditions prescribed for the protection of nature. Through its philosophy, its ascetic practices, and in its narrative arts and architecture, Jainism and its leaders have made efforts to create the society dedicated to love for all creatures. Judicial Process and Anekantvada Conceptual crisis arises in the society. The Universe is the composite of groups consisting of adverse pairs like knowledge and ignorance, pleasure and sorrow, life 1 and death and so on. Life depends on such adverse groups. All the groups have their own interests, which create clashes and conflicts in thinking among themselves. Religion is supposed to pacify these clashes through co-existence on socialistic pattern of society. The co-existence will not remain without relativity. Access to justice makes the judicial role pivotal to constitutional functionalism. It is the basic to the implementation of every human rite. This responsibility is undertaken by the philosophy of Anekantavada in Jainism. Jain philosophy is based on the nature of reality, which is considered through Non-absolutism or Many-fold Aspects (Anekantavada). According this view, reality possesses infinite characteristics, which cannot be perceived or known at once by any ordinary man. Different people think about different aspects of the same reality and therefore their partial findings are contradictory to one another. Hence they indulge in debates claiming that each of them was completely true. The Jain phi 1

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