________________
Jainism and Modern Life
- C.C. Shah, MA., LLB
Jainism is essentially an ethical religion. Like all prophets, and unlike philosophers, Mahavir was more concerned with the problems of life than with metaphysical speculation. Even while reflecting upon life, he appears to be more concerned to find escape from pain and misery rather than to seek positive happiness or pleasure. Unlike Buddha, he did not need direct contact with old age, disease and death to realise the futility of pleasures of life or worldly possessions. Mahavir appears to have been averse by temperament to pleasures of life and worldly possessions. But for his respect for elders, his parents and elder brother, he probably would not have married or waited to renounce the world. He appears to have been of a retiring disposition and renunciation was natural to him.
He was born in an age when Sannyāsa and severe austerities were common. But those who preached such Sannyāsa and practised austerities did not have the spiritual outlook, or inward looking approach of Mahavir. To Mahavir, Sannyāsa and austerities were not an end in themselves but means to spiritual salvation.
Mahavir was firmly convinced that embodied existence was an evil to be got rid of. Body was bondage and the ideal was to be free from bodily existence. Body was an obstacle or hinderance to spiritual realisation. All activities of the body, from breathing to eating and possession of any kind, resulted in injury to living creatures. Hence the only way to spiritual realisation was extreme austerities and renunciation of all activities of the body. Mahavir carried both these principles to extreme limits and logical conclusions.
The most astounding thing about Mahavir is his realisation or discovery that earth, air, fire, water, vegetation, all were full of living creatures. These biological discoveries in an age 2500 years ago is the greatest achievement of Ma is either intuition or direct realisation. Once this was realised, non-injury to living beings in all forms was an inevitable consequence.
118 V
T
I IT
IMH
511 310 109
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
