YJA Convention 1994 07 Chicago IL First

Author(s): Young Jains of America (YJA)
Publisher: Young Jains of America YJA USA

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Jainism of the Lake Poets
To profess a religion, it is not necessary to be born to it or to be converted into it. And one may practice a religion without even professing it. Mahatma Gandhi's whole outlook on life is molded on the Jain philosophy of Ahimsa; he practiced Ahimsa more perfectly than any Jain has hitherto done. And yet he never called himself a Jain. The English poets of the early nineteenth century had an outlook on life which seemed to be in every respect influenced by Jainism. And yet Jainism was not at all known to England in that century. Jainism is not a label given to any particular dogma, heresy or fanciful theory. It is the sumtotal of certain elemental truths which have appealed to the reason of man in all ages and in all times. Jainism has had no beginning; it has no founder-in the sense in which Jesus founded Christianity or Mohammed founded Islam. Our Tirthankars only re-discovered for the people, the truths which had been lost to them in their ignorance. The Tirthankars preached what their experience told them to be the best and the simplest solution of the riddle of life. Independently of any example or precept, the 24 Tirthankars arrived at the same truth. Small wonder, that the English poets in their study of life, also reached the same conclusion.
The humanitarian Leagues in England and other western countries are raising a voice against vivisection and all sorts of cruelties to animals. Wordsworth preached Ahimsa as early as 1798:
"Our meddling intellect
Misshapes the beauteous forms of things; We murder to dissect."
Shelley gave poetical expression to the Jain creed of non-violence or non-injury in Alastor or the spirit of Solitude:
"If no bright bird, insect, or gentle beast, I consciously have injured, but still loved And cherished these my kindred; then forgive
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By K. B. Jindal
This boast, beloved brethren, and withdraw No portion of your wonted favor now!"
The shooting of tigers and the destroying of snakes is justified on the basis of "kill the killer". But these animals bear no ill-will towards man and would never attack just for the fun of it. They do so in self defense because they doubt man's motives. If they could somehow be assured that man had no sinister design against them, they would pass by quietly. On seeing them, we instinctively recoil out of fear; and our reactions are misunderstood by the animals as a menacing attitude on our part. If we could remain motionless and unperturbed on seeing a lion or a reptile, they, in their turn, will not bother us. Our Tirthankars sat in deep meditation and were quite oblivious of the world around them. The forest beasts and birds gathered around them in meek adoration and never did them any harm. The atmosphere of peace that prevailed around the forest-abodes of the Tirthankars, has been envisaged by Shelley in the following poem:
"He would linger long
in lonesome vales, making the wild his home, Until the doves and squirrels would partake From his innocuous hand his bloodless food, Lured by the gentle meaning of his looks; And the wild Antelope, that starts whene'er The dry leaf rustles in the brake suspend Her timid steps, to gaze upon a form More graceful than her own."
The Jain creed of non-violence extends not only to animals but also to the vegetable kingdom. Long before Sir J. C. Bose, Wordsworth discovered that plants had life.
"And 'tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes."
Not only did Wordsworth believe that plants and