Book Title: Sramana 1996 04
Author(s): Ashok Kumar Singh
Publisher: Parshvanath Vidhyashram Varanasi

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Page 102
________________ XAU/31861-/988€ : 808 every day life. It is Ahiṁsā, therefore, that our masses have to be educated in. Education in truth follows from it as a natural end.27 In 'A talk on Non-violence' Gandhiji has said that Ahiṁsā is not the a form of direct action but it is the only form of that. Nonviolence is meaningless when it is not applied as direct action. It must have direct and active expression. It is the greatest and the activest force in the world. One cannot be passively non-violent. In fact non-violence is a term I had coin in order to bring out the root meaning of Ahiṁsā. In spite of the negative particle ‘non', it is no negative force.28 Mahatma Gandhi has agreed with the sayings of ancient seers that one can achieve nothing through strife and violence, rather through Ahimsā he can fulfil his destiny and duty to his fellow creatures. For, non-violence is a force which is more positive than electricity and more powerful even than ether. In the centre of Non-violence there is a force which is self active.29 According to Mahatma Gandhi following are the axioms of non-violence : (a) Non-violence implies as complete self-purification as humanly possible. (b) Man for man the strength of Non-violence is in exact proportion to the ability, not the will, of the non-violent person to inflict violence. (c) Non-violence is without exception superior to violence, i.e., the power at the disposal of a non-violent person is always greater than he would have if he was violent. (d) There is no such thing as defeat in Non-violence, the end of violence is surest defeat. (e) The ultimate end of Non-violence is surest victory if such term may be used of non-violence. In reality, where there is no sense of defeat, there is no sense of victory.30 Moreover Non-violence is all-pervasive because one cannot biex non-violent about one activity of his own and violent about oth I possesses nothing therefore it possesses everything because it Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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