World Religions Conference November 1957

Author(s): Sushil Muni
Publisher: Achal Singh Seth

Page 90

Address from Muni Shri Sushil Kumar ji Mahavira, the social equality as preached by Christ and Mohammad, all originated from Ahimsa. In the religious constitution of Confucious and Lao, in the oneness of all mankind as preached and practised by Guru Nanak, Kabir and Pythagoras, St. Francis, Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi, we see the light of Ahimsa.
Thus we see that Dharma and Ahimsa are closely related. It is only on the foundation of Ahimsa that we can bring about religious unity and religious unity as based on Ahimsa will do greatest good to mankind.
Science is the story of intellectual awakening in man. Ahimsa itself is in fact one of the sciences. Some scholars, however, regard Science and Ahimsa as two different things. Man has ever been trying to re-discover for himself The Eternal Truth both in the outer and in the inner world. In his striving for Truth, he has been, searching for it, sometimes in the objective world outside and sometimes in the subjective world within him. The belief and practice, Brahma and Maya, are the two expressions of the same Reality. If Ahimsa is the result of inner search, Science is outcome of physical phenomena. We firmly believe that by enshrining the idol of Ahimsa in the Temple of Science, we can make the world happy and prosperous.
Since there is no harmony between science and man's practical life, there is great unrest in the world. Violence is the root cause of all this evil. As violence is assuming control in the various aspects of life, the restlessness is on the increase. In the fields both of capitalism and labour, thinking and learning, culture and civilisation, violence is on the increase.
The feeble spirit cannot possibly reconcile itself with material progress, and is often led astray by it, with the result that while material science is making headway, the spirit in man is gradually losing its innate consciousness. Man, no doubt, generaly deceives others, yet he cannot help deceiving himself as well. We are hoping to win love by hatred, to build the defences of peace on laws and armaments and to attain contentment through pelf and power. It means nothing but losing the spirit altogether. So long as we cherish within us, feelings of violence and vendetta, we cannot possibly bring about a real change in the world conditions.
It is on the foundation of non-violence, love and fraternity that we establish Kingdom of God on earth-such, for instance, were the colononisations by Quakers in the 17th century, the loving administrations of the Red Indians, the innocent and harmless Greeks living peacefully, the cult of Pythagoreans preached in Greece and America, all these were based on the principles of love and non-violence. Even in this materialistic age they are the living embodiments of these life principles. The people who still doubt
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