Book Title: Walk With Me
Author(s): Chandanaji Acharya, Vastupal Parikh
Publisher: Veerayatan

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 89
________________ 8. Ahimsa and Social Justice Our Arhat sangh was rapidly growing in numbers, thanks to Mahavir's wonderful samosarans and his ability to explain Sraman principles. People were thrilled by Mahavir's revolutionary messages of equality, love, compassion, and reverence for every living being, and by his concern for the wide-spread social injustice in the society. Though, Mahavir was once a prince, and lived mostly in the forest for his sadhana for 12 years, he was completely aware of the problems facing the poor and disposed in society. Jain Education International I was still new in the 'Arhat sangh', but being a Ganadhar, new monks would ask me several questions about our philosophy, our sangh, and even about Bhagwan Mahavir. I knew that Mahavir achieved Let self-liberation be kevalgyan (absolute knowledge) and total bliss the focus of our through his focused sadhana. I was also sadhana, but the goal of our sadhana should aware of his love and compassion for all be to alleviate pain living beings, but, when they asked why he and suffering of all chose to re-enter the society and tackle its living beings. problems when he could have simply rested in his state of bliss, I had no answers. I too wanted to know why Mahavir continues to work so hard, walking barefoot through heat and forests, fasting for days, and visiting town after town serving the sick and the poor. For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186