Tirthankar Mahavir

Author(s): Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Jaybhikkhu Sahitya Trust

Page 20

In the past three thousand years of 'civilised' life, fifteen thousand wars have taken place. Among all creatures on earth, human beings are the only beings that choose to kill their own species. Man invented guns and bombs to kill his fellow men; a single nuclear bomb can wipe out the human race. This reminds one of an incident from the life of Maxim Gorky, the Russian writer. He talked to the villagers about the achievements of science. He said: "Science had helped man to fly in space and to fathom the depths of oceans. Once, when he was discoursing on the wonders of science". An old villager retorted saying: "You are right. Science has shown us how to fly and how to reach the bottom of a sea, but has it taught us how to live in peace on this planet ?" Gorky had no answer. Yet as Jains, Mahavira has blessed us and taught us how to live. We live today in perpetual danger of war. There are a varieties of bombs, each capable of killing hundreds of thousands in one go! There is a stockpile of 30,000 nuclear weapons that can decimate the human race in an instant. Violence has become a way of life and is seen in each and every act of a being. The media play a negative role in inflaming our passions and providing an impetus to violence. Human kind is ravaged by poverty and famine, yet money is spent on developing new weapons and on planning war strategies. Around the world, there are people who live in a state of fear, terror and insecurity and as nations, we talk and prepare for war. Is the need for non violence not stronger than ever before?
Non-violence is a way of life; it comes from within. In the oldest book of Jain religion Acharang Sutra, it is said that nonviolence is a true universal religion. Acharya Shri Umaswatiji said, *RARE -"- each living organism supports another. Mahavira's theory of non-violence encompasses the entire universe and he had also emphasised the unity of life.
It was after a gap of 2600 years that Mahatma Gandhi felt inspired by the same principles of non-violence and compassion that Mahavira propounded. In August 1946 Mahatma stood, unarmed before a violent mob and his compassion melted their hearts. Mountbatten said, "What a battalion could not have achieved, has been achieved by this frail man and has saved East part of India from a conflagration." Non-violence links Mahavira to Mahatma, "as if there was an invisible traffic between Mahavira and Gandhi."
As we have stepped into the next century, everyone has to make non-violence a part of one's being, the very existence. Jain philosophy lays emphasis on totality of life, not on fragmented existence. There are people who take care to see that tiny insects are not killed but they do not flinch when it comes to exploiting others. Everyone has a split personality and this leads to fragmentation which is highly detrimental. Non-violence must pervade one's life, one's every action and activity. Compassion should be encompassing as was evident in Mahavira's love for Chandkaushik, a venomous snake.