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A SOURCE-BOOK IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY
is negative yet it has a positive content. It is not mere abstinence to injury to life. It is love. Himsă causes destruction of life and des tuction of one's own personality. It lowers the personality of man, Gandhiji said "non-violence is the law of our species and violence is the law of the brute".1 Non-violence would be panacea for the ills of life. It would bring lasting peace to us.
The Jaina conception of non-violence as an ethical principle has permitted the entire structure of the Jaina ethics and the way of life. Other codes of conduct and vratas like satya, asteya, brahmacarya and aparigraha are all geared to the promotion of the practice of non-violence as much rigorously as possible and as far as possible according to the functions of the individual in society, be an ascetic (muni) or a citizen (śravaka). All other virtues are expressions of ahimsa. Therefore, it is said that Jainism advocates the universality of the principle of non-violence-'ahimsa paramodharmah'. For instance, the individual is a social being and he has to aim at social betterment if self culture is to be pursued. The Jaina ethics has both the eyes of the individual as well as the social betterment. It envisages an individual as a social being, in as much as the individual depends on society for his intellectual, moral and material gains. Even the ascetic is incapable of transgressing this basic principle of individual and social justice. The adoption of ahimsa and other virtues can be seen to be expressed in the aparigraha also.
The Jaina view of aparigraha may be presented in the context of modern society in three cardinal principles 1 1. Desireless, 2. nonpossession and 3. develop an attitude of non-attachment towards the possession. An ascetic or a religious fanatic may be desireless but it may be out of a sense of superiority and out of arrogance of virtue, these are not the ideals of society. We should develop an healthy attitude of renunciation and non-attachment which would bring in us a confident calm in our daily life. They adopt the practice of aparigraha as a social virtue based on the spiritual principle of non
1 Romain Rolland-Mahatma Gandhi, p. 48
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