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Śramana, Vol. 57, No.2
April-June 2006
THE JAINA CONCEPT OF 'AHIŃSĀ'
AND THE MODERN WORLD
V.V. Menon*
It is universally acknowledged that, of all major religions, only Jaina religion has gone farthest in the direction of nonviolence. One of the constraints on any religion is that it has to preserve the 'original' teachings of the 'founders' (who might have been divinely inspired) and interpret/re-interpret these teachings as new problems/issues/dilemmas crop up. A major challenge to all religions has been posed by the 'explosion' of scientific knowledge during the past four hundred years. 'Science' recognizes no authority and is changing continuously in the light of any new evidence, and therefore is "objective" in a certain sense. Scientific knowledge, by its nature, is not perfect at any time but is always more reliable than before. For instance, the concept of 'life', or a 'living being', has properly crystallized only about 50 years ago. The field of study of Science is "observable natural phenomena" (i.e., those which can be observed by any rational human being) and therefore, ghosts, 'soul', 'god' (or 'God') heaven, hell, etc. are not in the purview of Science; in this sense, Science is 'agnostic' rather than 'atheistic'.
Science is the driver of modern Engineering and Technology, whose artefacts are ubiquitous in modern life. Moreover, the modern legal system is affected in part by these advances. Modern medicine is continually faced with new ethical/moral dilemmas due to advances in Science/Engineering Technology. * Retd. Professor of Applied Mathematics, Institute of Technology,
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221 005
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