Relevance of Jainism To Modern Thought

By Mr. T. K. Tukol

Today we are living in a world of science. Science has dispelled many traditional beliefs and primitive superstitions. It has increased immensely man's sense of human power. The industrial revolution has changed the values of life and has brought in misery in countries like India which are essentially agricultural both in resources and production. The handicraftsmen have been thrown out of work by the machines and the rural workers have been compelled to migrate to the towns. In the industrial areas the trade unions and strikes have been clamoring for more wages and disturbing peaceful life in cities. Inspite of all the best efforts of the States, poverty still continues to dog the path of majority of the people in our country. The population continues to increase; if the present rate of increase persists, there will be two groups in society, one group of the poor with increasing population and the other of the rich with stationary population.

Everything turns on politics. Normal life of the country is dominated by politicians and power seekers. The panchayats and the Municipal Councils which have become the play grounds of political powers have brought into public life more evils that good. Black-marketing, adulteration, smuggling and corruption in various forms have become the order of the day. Honest life has been becoming more difficult, if it is not a life of suffering. Educational institutions and universities are facing problems of discipline and some of them are on the verge of disruption, both moral and financial. Religion and ethics are heard more on platforms than in actual life private or public. There is a widespread feeling that we have reached a decisive moment in our history when we must make a choice of an ideology which will solve the ills of present life.

Progress in science and technology face peculiar dangers. The two irreconcilable ideologies of communists and capitalists are itching to fling arms at each other knowing full well that they will ruin themselves along with many other innocent nations, if the die were cast. "The shape of the future" says Dr. Radhakrishnan, "gives us much concern. With all the resources at our command, with all the gifts with which we have been endowed, with all the powers that we have developed, we are unable to live in peace and safety. We have grown in knowledge and intelligence but not in wisdom and virtue. For lack of the latter, things are interlocked in perpetual strife. No centre holds the world together... The social pathos of the age is exploited by countless individuals in different parts of the world who pose as leaders and proclaim their foolishness as wisdom. We are sowing grain and weeds at random."

We have almost reached the edge of a precipice. The tragedy of the modern man is that he scorns spiritual values and worships mammon. For some years past, pursuit of riches, fame and the pleasures of the senses has been the goal of many people in all climes and countries; It absorbs the mind so much that it leaves no time to reflect on anything better. The pursuit has become more vigorous than at any other time before, in human history. By sensual pleasures the mind is enthralled to the extent of quiescence as if the supreme good were actually attained, so that it is quite incapable of thinking of any other object; when such pleasures have been gratified, it is followed by extreme malanchology, whereby the mind, though enthralled, is disturbed and dulled. The pursuit of honors and riches is likewise very absorbing, especially if such objects are sought for their own sake, in as much as they are then supposed to constitute the highest good. In the case of fame, the mind is still more absorbed, for fame is conceived as always good for its own sake, and as the ultimate end to which all actions and directed. Further the attainment of riches and fame is not followed as in the case of sensual pleasures by repentance, but the more we acquire, the greater is our delight; on the other hand, if our hopes happen to be frustrated, we are plunged into the deepest sadness. Fame has the further drawback that it compels its votaries to order their lives according to the opinions of their fellowmen, shunning what they usually shun and seeking what they usually seek. All these facts establish that our happiness or unhappiness depends upon the quality of the objects we live for, objects which are perishable.

Every religion lays down that all human beings are born equal but yet, equality in social and equality of rights have been denied to different sections of the population in different countries. Though Jafferson has stated in his Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights like Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, yet the Negroes are denied these rights. The capitalist system of society still maintains slavery, serfdom and racial discrimination. In our own country, Article 17 of the Constitution of India has abolished untouchability and declared that the enforcement of any disability arising out of untouchability shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law. But the social evil still persists and the social disabilities imposed on that class of persons by reason of their birth still continue to be practiced. There is no religious or moral sanction in one making another a slave or treating him as a negro or an untouchable.

These and similar other matters worry the modern mind. All the objects pursued by the multitude not only bring no remedy that tends to preserve and inspire out being but act as hindrances to higher thoughts. Besides, the present generation is fast losing confidence in itself.

The most vital factor for human peace and happiness is unshakable confidence in that potential powers of one's own Self amongst the individuals constituting the society. Even the consciousness of the existence of eternal and infinite power within one's own self fills us with joy and adds zest to our life, and a meaning to our thoughts and actions. According to Jainism, the soul and matter are two important substances and the world itself is uncreate and eternal. There are infinite souls in the universe. The attributes of the soul are infinite knowledge or omniscience, infinite bliss, infinite strength and infinite energy. The soul is formless, is the maker of his own future, the enjoyer of the fruits of his own Karmas and is Siddha. The happiness and misery which we enjoy and suffer are of our own making. The path of liberation consists in the confluence of Right Faith in the tattvas, Right knowledge of the tattvas or the attributes of the soul, and Right conduct, that is, the faithful observance of all the austerities and rules of pure conduct. This triple Right path is designed to enable the soul to attain Godhood which is its own nature potentially. Countless souls have attained liberation by following this path. This path is understandable and appeals to common sense. The great poet Tennyson voiced the same doctrine when he said:

Self knowledge, self-reverence and self-control shall alone lead man to soveriegn power.

To those who feel diffident about themselves and their future, is not this philosophy that one's own self has all the attributes of Godhood and that every votary of the universal truths can attain that status, sufficient to inspire vision and strength in every individual to realize that the path of righteous duty is the way to glory and the attainment of Siddha status? Whoever leads a life of Ahimsa, self-control and penance shall attain happiness here and hereafter. This message that every living being is the architect of his own fortune comes as a boon infusing new hope and aspirations in all those who need a rationalistic religion to follow.

As C.E.M. Joad says, truth, goodness, beauty and happiness are the ultimate values and objectives of life. These four are desired, valued and pursued for their own sake, they are independent factors in the universe and have intrinsic characteristics. The progress of mankind is to be measured by the increasing degree to which these values are perceived and pursued. Failure to do so is due to lack of insight and of the will needed for the purpose.

Today all these values have been fast receding from human sight because ugliness and untruth have dominated the thoughts and conduct of people who count in society. The evolution of morals is a social concern just as evolution of spirituality is the personal concern of every individual sanctity. There is a general atmosphere of mutual distrust and social insecurity. There are three bases for moral consciousness:

1) Faith in one's ultimate benefit through abstinence from evil
2) Faith in the inevitability of bad consequences of evil deeds and
3) Faith in the immortality of the soul. No moral consciousness worth the name can exist without cultivation of these beliefs.

The five Anuvratas offer a solution both to the individual as also to societies and nations. Ahimsa is no doubt preached by all religions but Jainism has worded it out both in its negative and positive aspects in such a way that a conscientious observance of it in every thought and action is sure to safeguard both personal and social interests. The most comprehensive definition of Himsa is given by Amritacandra Suri in his well known book "Purusartha Siddhyupaya": (The Original world language are missing) (Verse 41) whoever causes injury to the material or conscious vitalities of a living being through passionate activity of the mind, body or speech, surely causes Himsa. It is the presence of passion as a moving cause that is responsible for an act of Himsa which may be either to the bhava-prana, that is, the conscious vitalities like consciousness, peacefulness, happiness, emotion etc, or to the dravya-prana like the five senses, the three forces of body, mind and speech, and breathing and age. The conscious vitalities are possessed by all Jivas alike. Absence of attachment and of any of the passions is Ahimsa. A person with a passion first injures his own self through his own self. The degree of culpability varies with the degree of intensity of intention or passion.

Ahimsa in the modern world has relevance to the solution of two questions:
1) Nature of food and
2) War and peace.

In its positive aspect Ahimsa means sanctity of life and universal love for all living creatures. Ahimsa is the law of human beings while violence is the law of the beasts end of the jungle. It is a matter of common experience that the food we take has as much effect on our body as on our temperament. It is argued that the growing population and that therefore use of non-vegetarian food is invitable. It has to be conceded that for one reason or the other many people, whoa re born in families in which vegetarianism is not the traditional food habit, take to meat eating. The only answer to it is that they are under a deceptive belief that such diet is healthier and more nutritious. That this is a wrong concept of nutritive values of food can be verified by referring to any standard book on food and nutrition. In her address to the World Vegetarian Congress, Dr. Annie Besant said: "The constant use of meat in utter disregard of the sting of the conscience hardens the heart and the man becomes bereft of the feeling of mercy. The butcher uses his knife upon bewailing mute creatures, which are images of fear and horror, without the least worry. For this reason, in the United States no butcher is permitted to sit on the jury in a murder trial; he is not permitted to take part in such a trial simply because his continual contact with slaughter is held to somewhat blunt his susceptibilities in this connection, so that all through the States no man of the trade is permitted to take part as a juryman in a trial for murder."

Such opinions can be multiplied to any extent. Mahatma Gandhi has narrated his experience of meat eating, of the horror and the nightmare that haunted him that day and sometime thereafter. It is a matter of gratification to all lovers of animal life that the movement for vegetarianism and prevention of cruelty to animals has been gradually attracting greater number of Westerners to be its votaries. All pious and great thinkers in the world over have sung in praise of mercy and compassion for life and tried to propagate the same.

We are living in a world of chronic conflicts and in constant dread of war. Robert Bridges, the great poet Laureate of England said:

"needless taking of life putteth Reason to shame,
and men so startled at bloodshed that all homicide
may to a purist seem mortal pollution of soul.

the duty of mightiness is to protect the weak;
and since slackness in duty is unto noble minds
a greater shame and blame that any chance offence
ensuing on right conduct, this hath my assent that
where there is savagery there will be war."

Even though the Charter of the United Nations signed on June 26, 1945 at the Conference of International organization in San Francisco, California, stated that the peoples of the United Nations were determined to save the succeeding generations from the scourge of war and "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women....", there have been wars and the averments of good neighborliness and mutual tolerance have remained a dead letter. The reason is that the warring nations forget the dignity and sacredness of human life. Mahatma Gandhi has established the supremacy of moral force of Ahimsa in India's battle for freedom against a formidable nation. He said that if love was not the law of life, life would not have persisted in the midst of death. "The law of love will work, just as the gravitation will work, whether we accept it or not...The more I work at this law, the more I feel delight in life, the light in the scheme of universe." It is the faithful adherence to this principle alone that can bring harmony and peace in national life and international relationship. All over the world, most of the men and women including their leaders go to temples, churches and mosques, as enjoined by their respective faiths, hear sermons on the blessedness of the merciful. What is therefore needed today is practice of what is heard or road with faith and devotion.

The age we live in has been called the atomic age. New sources of energy are being tapped in various ways, but instead of thinking of them in terms of service and betterment of mankind, we have used them for manufacture of destructive weapons. It is not that the existence of the atom was unknown in the past. The term anu, the Sanskrit equivalent of 'atom' is found in the Upanishads, but the atom theory is foreign to Vedanta. Amongst the remaining schools of thought, the Jaina form of it is probably the remaining schools of thought, the Jaina form of it is probably the earliest says, Prof. Hiriyanna. The atoms according to it are of the same kind, but they can give rise to an infinite variety of things so that matter is conceived here as of quite an indefinite nature. Pudgala has, as we know, certain inalienable features; but within the limits imposed by them it can become anything through qualitative differentiation. The transmutation of the elements is quite possible in this view and is not a mere dream of the alchemist. Dr. Hermann Jacobi has subscribed to the view that the Jainas are the earliest to declare matter to be atomical. The atoms according to the Jainas are indefinite as regards quality; they may be in a gross (badara) or subtle (suksma) state; in the former they occupy one point of space (pradesa) each; in the latter an infinite number of them may be simultaneously present in the same point; by the combination of gross atoms all things in the world are produced except the souls (Jiva) and the substances, akasa, dharma and adharma.

I have made a reference to the atomic theory only to show that the Jaina thinkers were aware of the most modern theory; but they do not seem to have made use of it for any purpose, as the human needs were then very modest and its destructive use was unthinkable in that their philosophy was only constructive without the slightest tinge of himsa or harm to any body.

Now coming to the social question of equality of status, Jainism has singular message to convey to a society in which distinctions are based on caste and creeds which in their turn depend upon birth. Inspite of the universal benefits of modern civilization, prejudices due to race, color, or nationality persist and the people are divided amongst themselves. Racial arrogance or superiority of birth has been losing weight. The Eighth and Ninth sermons as contained in the "Uttaradhyayana Sutra" clearly point out that superiority or inferiority is not based on birth but on the kind of deeds, of virtue or wickedness. All humanity is one and differences are created by men and women from their own good and evil deeds. During Mahavira's life time, he divided the human beings into four groups: the Munis, the Arjikas, the Sravakas, and Sravakis. To all of them, he preached the same Dharma and recognized that even women could acquire scriptural knowledge and attain perfection. There is however one point to be noted. The Digambara tradition says that women will not be able to realize salvation on account of their physiological infirmities while the Svetambara tradition is that they too can attain salvation.

Instances of this equality of status can be mentioned from Mahavira's own life. One day Mahavira entered a town for food. People of all ranks and grades stood at their doors eager to offer him food. He accepted food from a slave girl who had been kept separate and was not permitted to touch metal utensils. A slave girl by name Candana offered some rice and Mahavira took a portion of it and left the place. The girl was a pious devotee. This aroused the conscience of the people and the master of the slave girl set her free after falling at her feet.

That this is so has been recognized by scholars of repute. Even though Mrs. Sinclair Stevenson stigmatized Jainism as having an "empty heart", she admits that one of the unique glories of Jainism is that is, unlike most Indian born religions, believes in the possibility of aliens reaching its goal. Even Europeans and Americans, although they may have never heard of Jainism, if they follow, though unconsciously, the five rules of conduct, of necessity destroy their Karmas and so are sped to moksa like an arrow from a bow. R. Williams has also subscribed to the same view. "The Jaina religion" he says "is a tirtha, a way of progress through life, and while the yati acara teaches the individual to organize his own salvation, the aim of Sravakacara is to ensure that an environment is created in which an ascetic may be able to travel the road of moksa. It must be therefore concerned with the community as well as with the individual.. Jainism welcomes the like-minded even if they do not outwardly profess its beliefs, and relies very much on the force of examples." It is thus clear that on the social plane, Jainism makes no distinctions on the basis of birth but gives absolute independence and freedom to every person to follow its principles according to his or her choice. Nothing intervenes between his actions and the fruits thereof.

Jainism wanted to avoid economic inequalities in societies by requiring the people to follow the vow of Aparigraha. The vow of truthfulness requires man to abstain from untruth spoken out of passion or hatred. He can refrain from speaking the truth if it is likely to harm another innocent being. What matters most is the intention behind the speech. So a preceptor who speaks in strong terms against vices and sins will not fall under the category of avoidable speech on account of his sincerity and object of improving others. Taking anything which is not given, with a passionate motive is theft. A person committing theft not only inures the purity of his own soul but also causes pain to another by removing his thing or property. Truthfulness and honesty are the prerequisites for practice of Aprigraha. In the abstract, attachment is itself parigraha. Without mental detachment there cannot be real Aparigraha. If one is unable to renounce wholly attachment for possession of living and non-living objects, he should at least limit them. Such a limitation checks greed which is the main inspiration for acquisition.

A layman is the main stay of society. It is he who maintains the economic health of his society. It is his moral duty to see that wealth does not accumulate in a few hands so as to create further divisions in his society as rich and poor. Even to maintain harmony and goodwill in society, he has to curtail his own greed. There is not doubt that the moral ideal so intended is to establish economic equality. If wealth accumulates in a few hands as it happens in a capitalist society, the result will be creation of another class suffering the pangs of poverty and sowing the seeds of dissatisfaction and ill-will against the rich. The basic principle of human welfare is contentment and normal amount of happiness. The ideal of Aparigraha, even if it is practiced in a limited way, leads to social development and harmony of interest.

One of the most powerful factors of irritation in world politics is the existence of the two conflicting forces of Communism and Capitalism. If the former concerns itself with the state ownership of all industrial enterprises, the latter encourages individual ventures in all fields of production and distribution. In both these, the individual morals have to yield to group control. The end of both is multiplication of wealth.

Both these forces concentrate their attention on material wealth with corresponding decline in spiritual aspirations and conduct. It is true that life needs certain comforts to keep body and mind together. Material acquisition, if not checked by sanity and moral consideration, is likely to lead to exploitation depriving others of what they need even for their minimum comfort. In mundane thinking, material progress necessarily implies satisfaction of bodily needs and desires.

The only panacea for subsidence of the conflict of the two ideologies, is the development of individual morals. Resort of falsehood, violence, injustice and exploitation can be checked only by moral forces in the society. Excessive acquisition is the very antithesis of inner purity and social peace. It is only by voluntary limits imposed by each individual on his own desires and possessiveness that the acquisitive tendency can be curtailed. That is what the vow of Aparigraha offers. The goal of life is to purge the mind, body and speech of the various kinds of infirmities that infest them and state the process of self-purification. Cultivation of a sense of detachment to the extent possible is the first step in the realization of the goal.

It is common experience that happiness and unhappiness are personal in character. All creatures shun unhappiness and they forget that it is largely of their own making. Happiness starts with a spiritual experience founded on a feeling of love and freedom from hatred; it consists in freedom from greed and avarice.

Jainism insists that charity is a part of daily duty of every house-holder. The Jaina community in the North particularly is well-known for its wealth as also for charity. They have built many hospitals and educational institutions. They have tried to alleviate misery and suffering. They have not forgotten establishment of charities for publication of religious literature which is so vital for maintenance of cultural standards and spread of ethical doctrines. Perhaps it is the only community which has built hospitals for animals and birds, though the Sindhis and Hindu Missions have of late followed suit.

The relationship between ends and means is of frequent concern in modern thought. It is well-known that Kautilya, Hitler and Machiavelli advocated that the end justified the means. Mahavira, Buddha, Gandhi and some other humanitarian thinkers and philosophers insisted that good means are necessary for achieving good ends. The Jaina doctrines have constantly urged the need of sound morals for happy living. Even though some people have dubbed Jainism as a pessimistic religion, it is unique in establishing close relationship between happiness and goodness, on the one hand, and misery and wickedness, on the other. The inexorable law of Karma lays down that you reap what you sow. There is no intermediate force or power which can change this law.

Another problem which worries the modern society is the problem of sex. Thinking in the Western countries has so much advanced that sexual relationship is considered as purely a problem of human emotions and agreeable desires; it is taken out of the moral plane. Contraceptives have been accepted as natural preventives for unwanted births. Even in India with all its religious and ethical background, abortion has been legalized and the use of contraceptives is loudly advocated by Government agencies to prevent increase in population. The vow of celibacy as preached by Jainism prohibits sexual contacts with women other than one's own wife. Attachment to a wife should be reasonable, as lust and passion result in himsa to the self. Mahatma Gandhi who was, as is well-known, influenced in his early boyhood by the teachings of Jainism, advocated that celibacy meant self-restraint, to be broken only for procreation. His view of family planning is based on self-restraint rather than on the use of contraceptives which has been assuming greater importance day-by-day as resistant to growth of population. All religions except perhaps Islam have regarded marriage as a scarred tie binding the parties to it for life. Divorces have become very frequent in the foreign countries and marriage contracts are for fixed periods. A religion which emphasizes the inner purity of each individual, both in thought and action, cannot to toe the line of license.

I do not like to deal at length with the doctrine of Syadvada and Nayavada which are well-known doctrines of Jainism. The idea is that the nature of being is intrinsically indefinite as it is subject to origination, continuance and destruction. From this point, every metaphysical proposition is right from a particular point of view and is bound to differ from another point of view. There are seven forms of metaphysical proposition, each indicating a point of view. The doctrine has been subjected to criticism from other religionists as pessimistic, uncertain, dogmatic and so on.

I have discussed in the previous Chapter the pros and cons of the doctrine of Syadvada which Prof. Dasgupta has called "Relative Pluralism". It stands for harmony of apparently conflicting doctrines by systematic reconciliation. It engenders toleration and avoids conflicts.

The modern world is a world of expanding knowledge, both scientific and technological. The multiplication of the means of production for peaceful luxurious living as well as for war has driven the world to the brink of a precipice. The world is confronted with the problems of war, of sexual behavior and racial integration.

The warring parties deny the existence of human brotherhood for the time being and when the ambers of war have cooled down, the wails of the innocents who have been thoughtlessly victims and of the survivors who clamor for rehabilitation only awaken humanity to the need of establishment of brotherhood. I have already shown above how the different principles contribute to a stable society and how war can be avoided by the dynamic spread of the gospel of Ahimsa. The Second World War has demonstrated how the use of inhuman technique ends in misery to both sides. Unless religious faith and moral idealism have their natural sway on human minds, there can be no safety to the society nor scope for preservation of the seven freedoms of man.

In the modern world, the search for relevance or the validity of religious doctrines, cannot be left only to the religious professionals; scientists, philosophers, humanists, sociologists and jurists have to deliberate with them by providing an intellectual content and background to the understanding of theological doctrines and to the practice of ethical codes in the regulation of national and international relationships. The sanctity of life has to be asserted at all costs and the dignity of personality has to be recognized in order to avoid war and racial discrimination. The principles of non-violence, love of truth, absence of greed, self-control, and avoidance of undue attachment form a practical code of conduct for individuals as well as social groups. In their application to International Relationship, they are cumulatively called Pancasila requiring each nation 1) to have respect for each other's territorial integrity, 2) to adopt the policy of non-aggression, 3) to desist from interference in each other's internal affairs, 4) to extend the principle of equality for mutual benefit and, 5) to understand and observe in conduct the principle of peaceful co-existence.

Religion as a tool of economic advancement can only lay down high moral codes which respect each other's right to property and freedom of practicing one's own trade or business. The inner life of an individual is more valuable than anything that a state can guarantee. Though salvation is not of this world, it has to be won in this world.

To achieve this objective, every one has first to save his own soul and the same time contribute his mite to the well-being of others. This is the gospel of Sarvodaya; this all-embracing character of the principles of Mahavira was first called by this term by Samantabhadra in the 2nd Century A.D. in verse 61 of his book called "Yuktyanusasana." Umasvami rightly stated that the function of the human beings is to help each other; (The Original world language are missing)

That is the philosophy of ideal living which Jainism preached long ago but its scope and meaning have been expounded by Albert Einstein in the present century: "From the stand point of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know, that is, man is here for the sake of other men, above all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellowmen, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received."

The ethical and spiritual values of Jainism are scientifically valid and would continue to hold good for all ages to come. The daily prayer of a Jaina includes the following verse which constantly reminds him of universal love and brotherhood which are of lasting human value:

(The Original world language are missing)

"O Lord, grant me ever and annon affection towards
all living beings, joyful-respect towards the
virtuous compassion and sympathy for the afflicted and
tolerance towards the perverted and the ill-behaved."

The kinship and friendship which Jainism wants to establish transcends all barriers of castes and creeds, of climes and countries. In the words of Mrs. Annie Besant, the message of Jainism to humanity is "Peace between man and man, peace between man and animal, peace everywhere and in all things, a perfect brotherhood of all that lives."

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Article Courtesy : Mr. Pravin K. Shah
Chairperson Jaina Education Committee
 Federation of Jain Associations in North America 
509, Carriage Woods Circle Raleigh, NC 27607-3969, USA 
E-Mail : pkshah1@attglobal.net
Websites : www.jaina.org & www.jainism.org

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Mail to : Ahimsa Foundation
www.jainsamaj.org
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