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living. Moreover you are literally related to all the other living things, just as truely as you are related to your sisters and your cousins and your aunts. You share a common ancestory with every other animal and every plant; you are a product of the same long, intricate history. You cannot, however, really know yourself if that is all you know. True understanding can come only from a knowledge of life in general.” unquote. Jainism
The oriental religions, particularly Jainism, believe in the existence of soul and its reincarnation. Jainism believes that a soul exists in association with a body and it keeps on moving from one kind of being to the other, till it gets salvation (Nirvāņa). Mahāvīra realised more than 2500 years ago that in its journey, a soul keeps on interacting with the help of its body with its own surrounding, or what may now be called ecology. He, with his vast knowledge also saw that of all the livng beings, man has much more emotion, possessiveness and violence and at the same time has liberty and ability to execute these selfish instincts. He thus causes maximum interference with nature. Mahāvīra felt that if man is persuaded and guided on a right path and if he is able to activate his positive potentialities and follows a code of conduct through self-realization, self-discipline (514) and austerities (779) he will not only achieve happiness for himself but also for others by not interfering with their lives. Such an accomplishment will certainly protect nature.
Mahāvīra provided a code of 12 vows (vratas) (five Anuvratas, three Guņa-vratas and four Śikṣā-vratas) (Upāsaka-dasão) for a layman. Of this primary code of conduct for a layman, Aparigraha-Anuvrata (vow for non-possession), fight against the instinct for unlimited possession is considered important. Aparigraha-Vrata (vow of non-possessiveness)
Possessiveness is the root cause of all kinds of violence and has received great attention in Jain Cannonical literature. It is for the attraction of materials and instinct to possess these, man disturbs the nature. It is strongly advocated that if the problem of possessiveness is solved, the major problem of violence and thereby environment will get automatically solved. “Violence is an effect, possessiveness is its cause."
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