World Of Jainism

Author(s): Vishwanath Pandey
Publisher: Vishwanath Pandey

Page 58

56
THE ORIENT
The Mahabharata is replete with references of Ahimsa. In Mahabharata it has been said time and again that life is the most precious thing and hence non-injury or Ahimsa is the greatest virtue, the greatest of all religion (ahimsa parmo dharmah). The Bhagavadgita often refers to Ahimsa. It emphasizes that Ahimsa should be practised along with other virtues like equanimity (samata), contentment (tustin), truthfulness (satyam), non-anger (akrodhah), and celebacy (brahmacharya). The refusal by Arjuna to fight war because he did not want to violate the principle of Ahimsa is itself an indication that Ahimsa was held to be an important dharma. However, it is, in all possibility, the deadly and futile consequence of the Mahabharata war that deepened the mind of the people against death and destruction and turned them to follow the path of non-violence under all circumstances. The strong emphasis on non-violence that we notice in Jainism and Buddhism is an elaboration of this spirit.
As regards the doctrine of Karma of Jainism, one can easily notice it in the contemporary philosophy. The Upanisads hold this doctrine very distinctly. In Brihadaranyaka Upanisad Yajnavalkya, a great Upanisadic philosopher, makes a profound statement that it is the karma that survives man. The doctrine of karma is one of the basic postulates of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
Now turning to the monastic order, it should be noted that there were no two clear cut tendencies as the path of ritual, (better known as brahmana dharma) and monastic order (sramana dharma) in ancient India as has been conveniently surmised by some scholars. The reason is that the religiophilosophical tendencies were variant and individualistic. They did not conform to any strict set of belief and practice. It is wrong to assume that all the people supposed to be following the path of rituals practised ritualism blindly and in the same form, and that they were not opposed to its shortcomings. Nor can we assume that the so-called followers of monastic order (sramana dharma) completely abhorred ritualism and were of higher intellectual acumen. Even Jainism and Buddhism which are popularly supposed to be offshoots of this monastic order could not get rid of ritualism completely-a fact which is evident even to-day. A careful examination of the early Indian religion shows that as the natural religion went on evolving, it went on shedding, gradually the cruder elements in it, and more and more sophisticate ideas gained their place. External ritualism gave way to inner purity. In this process of religious evolution all brands of thinkers participated. And the most important thinkers were, naturally, the followers of the Vedas being in majority. Some of these thinkers, including Brahmanas, advocated for the monastic way of life for self
2. Supra, pp. 50-51.
3. Op. cit, X, 5; XVI, 2; XVII, 14.