Studies in Jainism

Author(s): Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta
Publisher: Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta

Page 109

REFLECTIONS ON ANUVRATA - THE
DOCTRINE OF SMALL VOWS
Jainism may simply be defined as a religion of conduct or U a faith that embodies a code of conduct for the individual essentially or, at least, largely. The followers of the religion. to be true to the faith, are to take certain vows and observe them. Any violator of the strict code is regarded as an apostate. But the strictness of the code militates against its observance, and the passage of time has contributed to their obsolescence to a considerabie extent. For instance, respect for all life, which is the most fundamental tenet of Jainism, can hardly be respected in the present ambiance, nay, for that purpose, could hardly be in the days when Jainism was flourshing. In other words, non-violence, in the full sense of the term, has always been an impossible proposition - a chimera as, in the Mahābhārata, Mārkandeya informed Yudhisthera, that even an innocent pastime like agriculture results in the killing of thousands of insects. In these days pesticides are used for preserving the crops, insecticides are applied for prevention, at least, of diseases like malaria and cholera, medicinal remedies are made from animal bodies, and violence is done even to the calf when cow-milk is consumed, in one form or another. Again, granted that trees and plants are animate entities, they should not be felled or mutilated for any purpose whatever, and grass or weeds should not be uprooted in any circumstances. Thus, violence to other lives, if it can be termed as such, has to be done not only for keeping what is called 'civilization' going on but for enabling the existence of human beings on this planet. Certainly the irreducible minimum. To see it from another angle, full respect for all life can at best be regarded as the way of what in Šri Aurobindo's category is successful suicide. 1. Renaissance in India.