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THE WORLD OF JAINISM
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wedded to the western concept of progress and he wanted progress, both spiritual and material. He could not realize fully the inherent contradiction between the two, material and spiritual which was realized by Mahavira that these two cannot be reconciled. Hence Mahavira's principles of complete Brahmacharya and Aparigraha were not acceptable to Dr. Schweitzer. Not that Dr. Schweitzer was in favour of pleasures and wealth. He saw the evil of both, but was not prepared to renounce them completely as did Mahavira.
Gandhiji made an heroic attempt to combine non-violence with worldly activity. He claims to have based it on The Bhagwad Gita. It is difficult to trace the roots of non-violence in Gandhiji's thought. It may be due to the influence of some Jain Sadhus on Gandhiji's life in his childhood. But undoubtedly at the age of 24, he was deeply engrossed in the problems of non-violence and its implications. When he sought spiritual guidance of Shrimad Rajchandra, of the 27 questions which he asked, the last one was on non-violence which he put in an extreme form. Gandhiji asked what he should do if, in a room with only four walls without door or window, a deadly serpent appeared. Should he kill the serpent? Shrimad gave a characteristic reply. He said it was difficult to advise to allow the serpent to bite you. But if he truly realised that the soul was different from the body, and if he had no attachment to the body, he should allow the serpent to do what he liked. But, he said, I can never dream of advising to kill the serpent.
Gandhiji read non-violence in The Bhagwad Gita. He regarded the war-like setting of The Gita as symbolic of the inner conflict of man. This is not the occasion to discuss how far Gandhiji was right in his interpretation of the Gita in this manner. But Gandhiji was not content with merely preaching non-violence. He was a revolutionary, and wanted to create a non-violent society. He had a complete plan for it. His interest in the realities of life and the affairs of the world was intense, and he wanted to see a world in which non-violence becomes the law of life. Gandhiji actively opposed injustice by nonviolent means. Mahavira cannot be said to be having the belief that the world can adopt non-violence as the principle of life. An individual can and must, but to be able to practice nonviolence, it was necessary to renounce the world. Therefore, the question of opposing injustice does not arise in case of Mahavira.
The metaphysical speculations of Mahavira's ethics appear to be of a later growth. The seeds of metaphysics are there in Mabavira's teaching. But he was primarily concerned with the development of ethical and spiritual conduct of man rather than with the metaphysical speculations. The essence of Jain metaThe physics is dualism of soul and matter, Jiva and Ajiva. philosophical system can be said to be plurastic realism, as it recognizes infinite number of souls which remain independent
