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AŅUVRATA : A SOLUTION FOR WORLD
PEACE
Dr. Navin Kumar Srivastav
Amongst the most burning problems the world is facing today is religious fundamentalism, intolerance and open exercise of atomic powers. The world is now standing on the threshold of human catastrophe. Thus the question of peace, tolerance and harmony has become more relevant today than it was ever before. The author of the present article has tried to find a way out of maintaining peace and harmony on individual and global level as well through the Aņuvratas, an important tenet of Jainism. - Editor
Peace has been the one of the most desirables for human being in the History of mankind. We have ample refrences in the Vedic and pre-Vedic literature where man is shown praying for divine favours to obtain peace. Yajurveda clearly depicts Ķșis praying for peace all around them when it says 'Dyouḥ śāntirantariksa'śāntiḥ prthavi śāntirāpaḥ śāntiroșadhayaḥ śānti. Vanaspatayaḥ śāntirviśvedevāḥ śāntirbrahmaśāntiḥ sarva'śānti śāntireva śāntiḥ sā mā śāntiredhi. Today, the advancement of Science and Technology has succeeded to remove our religious superstitions on one hand but on another hand it has put mankind in havoc and complete catastrophe. Science has become terribly failed to overcome the passions and prejudices that human flesh is heir to. It has also shaken our mutual faith, faith in moral virtues as well as religiousspiritual values. The old social and spiritual values of life acting as binding force on humanity which were based on religious belief have been made irrelevant by scientific knowledge and logical thinking. Till date, we have been unable to formulate or evolve a new value structure, necessary for meaningful and peaceful living in society based on our scientific and logical outlook. Today, we
