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THE WORLD OF JAINISM
According to him it was not enough that we took Vegetarian meals and did not kill animals for food or game He wanted Ahimsa to be that precept which did not accept anybody as foreigner or outsider Ahimsa means the widest and most intimate love and acceptance of all, with selfless love. In such a philosophy of life all human beings, nay all living beings, should be treated as deserving our equal love The Jaina monks try to put this strict principle into their life by observing a rigorous code of conduct In such a religion there could be no scope of rivalry or antagonism.
Anekanta-vada
But the greatest contribution of Mahavira was his anekantavada In this he taught that various schools of philosophy and religion should not quarrel with one another Everyone of them has some amount of truth which the other side may be wanting Our conception of truth is often partial We should, therefore, be ready to express respect for the positions of others and try to understand their viewpoints with open mind If we live together, accepting the right of everybody to follow his own convictions, we would be able to form a familyhood of all religions through love, sympathy, service and self-sacrifice
Fortunately, for us the present year is the 2500th anninversary of Nirvan of Bhagwan Mahavira I am, therefore, trying even at mv age of ninety to bring of different religions together under the banner of anekantavada, which is same as our familyhood of all religions preached by Mahatma Gandhi I wish the Jainas of India start a Mahavira Mission respecting all viewpoints and building a famılyhood of all the religions
Ever since I joined Gandhiji's ashram, I read the scriptures of all religions with greatest reverence But because of the early
of Dr R G Bhandarkar, Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Rabindranath Tagore on me, I do not subscribe to the view of infallibility and ultimate authority of scriptures. My view is that all scriptures deserve equal reverence That is why I am trying, now, to start a mission of India I feel within myself that I am a Jaina because of my belief in the doctrine of vada as my guiding spirit I am a Hindu and a Buddhist who believes in the unity of humanity (Vasudharva Kutumbakam) and wellbeing of all neople (Bahujan hitaya) It is not a question of policy or prudence It is the reaction of my heart that prompts my action from within It is this spirit that is behind the current mission I have been telling the Jainas that Buddha and Mahavira
emporaries Both of them propounded universal i eli. gions The Buddhists tried to spread their religion far and wide It went to Ceylon, Burma, Nepal, China, Japan, Korea and to
