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SHRAMAN MAHAVIR
no ruler and the ruled amongst them There is no master and servant nor any hierarchy of the low and the high They are sovereign in themselves They are sovereign because they have purged themselves of anger, vanity, mundanness and avarice
Our society, on the other hand, is ruled by the state Since the individual has not been able to eradicate anger, he estranges others His vanity is irrepressible and hence he deems himself higher than others His materialism is far from sublimated and hence he attempts to begule others His avarice is primarily raw and unprocessed that prompts him to undermine interests of others for the sake of his own selfish ends
A society impelled by bitterness, classhierarchies, craftiness, and an unconcern for others can hardly be called sovereign
Democracy is an application of non-violence to public administration The scope for evolution lies towards abstention and individual freedom A democracy whose citizens have a scant faith in non-violence implies a faith in one's inherent perfection and a similar faith in the perfection of others
Violence is an endless hankering after imperfection while non-violence is a quest for perfection An individual with attachment and malice cannot achieve perfection But an aspirant who has put out this burning pyre of desires makes a positive headway towards perfection Mahavira modelled the religious system for such forward-looking people
The Lord stuck a balance between self-restraint and disciplined system Self-restraint is a sine qua non in the endeavour to liberate oneself Discipline is also indispensable to harmonise individual proclivities, heredity and attainments A spiritual discipline devoid of self-abnegation is a myth Self-abnegation in the absence of discipline is, more often than not, a rudderless ship Any order worth its name is a product of both The Lord arranged the system of religious leadership into several units :
1 Acharya, 2 Upadhyaya,
