Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 4

Author(s): R P Poddar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

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Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin No. 4
to see that the minimum of himsa is caused and that too with no malice. 'With malice towards none and charity for all', he has to shoulder the responsibilities of society. The Jaina scriptures did not preach, as has been very often misunderstood, the practice of unqualified and absolute abstract principle of ahimsa, specially in the case of a śravaka, to the extent of the ridicious, as has been misrepresented by Zimmer in his Philosophies of Ind a. Ahimsa is the virtue of the brave. A coward has no moral strength to observe non-violence. A mouse, as Gandhiji said, hardly forgives a cat when it allows itself to be torn to pieces.
The Jaina concept of non-violence has influenced the way of Indian thought and the way of life for centuries. Ahimsa has been the very fibre of the Indian view of life. There were frequest protests against animal sacrifices in the Upanisads. The protests against animal sacrifices were. more pronounced in the Buddhist and the Jaina texts. In our times, Gandhiji's Satyagraha has been built up on the analysis of nonviolence. He has stated that he derived much benefit from the Jaina religious works as from the scriptures of other great faiths. Polak said that the first five vows of Gandhiji were the code of Jaina monk during the two thousand years. 10
Ahimsa is not a negative concept. It is not more non-injury. It expresses love and affection. The practice of ahimsa is not for the sake of others, but for saving our own selves.
4. Aparigraha vrata is to reject possessions. It is practised by the munis as mahāvrata. But for the layman it is anuvrata. It enjoins us to limit our possessions in this life. It is parimita parigraha. Limiting the material possessions refers to the bahya parigraha (external possessions). But the force of parigrahu is to be found in desires, in infatuation. It brings murccha (craving), and craving produces attachment, which in turn sts in motion the psychological process of identification. This is the process of antara-parigraha. While determining the limits of possessions, it would be necessary to keep in view the functional and the social responsibilities of individuals. Although all men are to be considered equal, some or more equal than others. There cannot be dead equality among men on the basis of functional and social responsibilitles. The needs of the Prime Minister of a country would become luxuries for the ordinary citizen. And in the practice of parimita parigraha, it is necessary to use
9. 10.
Letter from Gandhi in Modern Review, Oct. 1916. Polak-Mahatma Gandhi and others.