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every living creature has the right to live and prosper. This concept of non-violence has positive aims and has great relevance to contemporary environmental concerns.
The spiritual ecology of the Jains indicates their penetrating insight into the nature and psychology of human beings: the religious sanctions inspire people not to indulge in sinful or disturbing acts that harm the natural world, and teach compassion and reverence for all. Jainism is, thus, not fatalist but dynamic and optimistic, which is why Jainism respects all components of nature whether plant or animal; its illustrative principle of aural coloration in meditation, and its beneficial human and educational psychology, are the end products of this love and respect.
Like Jainism, different religious systems have affirmed the duty of humanity to preserve the beauty of our surroundings by expressing nature as mother, water as father, and air as teacher. Men and nature hold a causal relationship of inter-dependence and inter-relatedness at the finest (micro-level) and grossest levels. Jews and Christians have been advised to be stewards of the earth; the Buddha encouraged improving the aesthetic beauty of the environment to earn merit; and Hindus have included service to nature as one of their five duties for the repayment of debts, which people receive directly or indirectly from birth. By contrast, the Jains not only declare the natural components as living but have made the care of them a part of their daily duties for spiritual progress and control over the mind. Their karma theory shows them that better action achieves better results, and it leads to the fact already stated, that a 'better environment brings better peace of mind'. The Jain system, therefore, not only lays theoretical emphasis on environmental protection, but it inevitably inculcates the habit of practising the implementation of this theory. All its concepts - non-violence, careful diet, limitation of possessions, refraining from purposeless activity and disrespectful behaviour - protect the environment and show care for the natural world.
The last two hundred years have seen the state of the environment taking a perilous turn. Industrial society, in its aim of conquering nature for its material benefit, has disturbed the environment, but the pre-modern society lived in harmony with nature. The Industrial Revolution has revolutionised the human mentality towards seeking more comfort, resulting in more and more competitiveness and aggressiveness towards nature; and religious and ethical concepts of benevolent equilibrium are becoming lost. At first, the consumerist culture did not discern the future catastrophe, but now, universally, people are realising the danger even to the survival of the human race. This trend has resulted in the uneven distribution of natural resources and inequality among human beings, which are against humanity itself and its moral teachings.
It seems probable that had industrialisation never materialised, nature might have maintained a balance. Population growth is another challenge facing the world over last two centuries. Rather than living in harmony with nature, commercial aspirations brought industrialisation to feed and clothe a growing population, and created an ecological imbalance. It is unfortunate that rather than blaming themselves as the root cause; people blame science and technology. For Jains, these problems could have been avoided if religious injunctions had been followed.
Analysts have pointed to eight factors contributing to the current acute environmental predicament: population, industrialisation, excessive extraction and overuse or misuse of natural resources, increase in destruction of plants and animals due
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