Studies in Jainism

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

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STUDIES IN JAINISM
THE PREAMBLE:
The preamble to the code of behaviour-the Anuvrata clearly displays the negation. While it lists unity of mankind, co-existence and communal harmony, it lays equal emphasis on limited individual acquisition and consumption, Fearlessness, objectivity and truthfulness. Prof. Ernest Barker, the noted British theorist and analyst, in his widely read Social and Political Theory has reproduced the preamble to The Constitution of India in its entirety, with the observation that never before all political ideals of ages had been so assembled together and integrated. Still more so is perhaps the preamble to the Anuvrata Code. The ideals or Vratas listed in the preamble to Anuvrata, sometimes called Directive Principles of the same, will authenticate our contention. The list: (i) sensitivity to the existence of others, (ii) unity of mankind, (iii) Co-existence, (iv) communal harmony, (v) non-violent resistance, (vi) limited individual acquisition and consumption, (vii) integrity in behaviour, (viii) belief in the purity of the means, and (ix) fearlessness, objectivity and truthfulness.
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Each of the principles, rather ideals, will perhaps bear some comment. The first one, sensitivity to the existence of others, is rather a different way of expressing the first principle of Jainism: respect for all life. In simple terms, it implies the cliche, so to say, live and let live. A derivation from this is found in the modern arresting phase that is demanded for democracy - imaginative sympathy. Sympathy or respect alone is not enough; it should also be imaginative. This means discrimination. Without discrimination sensitivity becomes a meaningless principle of action in modern times. Anuvrata really emphasizes this.
Unity of mankind, the second item, seeks to cultivate what may be called the anthropocentric outlook, which must be regarded as a narrower view of life. But in the changed context, this has to be accepted. Unity of all life is a broader cosmological view no doubt, but it hardly accords with practicality of life today.
Unity of life-of all existence is the purport of Advaita