From the Past issues of the Jain Study Circular:
According to the Jain religion, one should accept only what is rational and is consistent with our observations of nature.
The concept of independence of each individual soul is the fundamental principle of the Jain religion and self-help is the way to achieve such independence.
With the independence of each individual soul comes the responsibility of avoiding the violence of self and of other living beings. Thus nonviolence is the supreme religion.
The basic principles of the Jain religion are scientific and true. However, religion is the science of living and thus religious practices have to be modified according to the time and place. Life in the United States and Canada is somewhat different from that in India. It is rather difficult to have a temple and a library in every town where Jains live. Nevertheless, all Jains, adults and youngsters, have a deep desire to enhance our knowledge and understanding of the Jain religion. All of us wish to indulge in the true practice of Jainism. This is especially true of the youngsters of Jain background growing up in this part of the world. Our religious practices have to conform to the modern scientific age. The well-known social reformer, Swami Satyabhakta, in an article published in Babu Chhotelal Commemorative Volume (SMRITI GRANTH), has written that many ideas and practices of Jains do not agree with modern science and thus our youngsters are turned away from religion. This trend should be reversed.
With the above ideas in view, we have started the Jain Study Circle. We intend to publish a study circular like the present one every three months. We also plan to establish a library for circulation of books to Jains at various places.
The study circular will contain articles bringing out the true spirit of Jainism, free from myths and legends. It will also present ideas about rational practice of the Jain religion.
Please discuss the ideas presented in the study circular with your family and friends. Explain them to your sons and daughters. Let us know your reaction to them. We also urge you to write articles, religious poems, religious songs, etc., which depict the real principles of Jainism and can appeal to a rational mind.
by Duli Chandra Jain
Nonviolence (AHIMSA) is the supreme religion. Practice of nonviolence entails avoiding physical and mental injury to self and to others. One should understand that nonviolence is not limited to vegetarianism and animal welfare. These are the basic essentials in our practice of nonviolence. However, there are numerous features of the practice of nonviolence which we might have ignored. Thus here are a few suggestions for practicing nonviolence:
* We should be open-minded, frank and straightforward.
* We should not accept any idea just because it is old or new, Eastern or Western, or, followed by our peers or superiors.
* We should be discriminating, logical and thoughtful.
* We should try to understand other's viewpoint.
* We should try to bridge the generation gap.
* We should avoid superiority and inferiority complex.
* We should not laugh at others' mistakes, appearance or dress.
* We should dislike the undesirable acts and not the persons or groups who commit them. We should not take revenge.
* We should not criticize other's religious beliefs.
* We should keep our surroundings neat and clean.
* We should take good nutritious food. We should stay away from alcohol, drugs, gambling and other addictions.
* We should remember that the primary goal of an individual is to fulfill one's role in society. Therefore, in student life, we should concentrate on education so that we can be well-prepared for the future.
* In dealing with friends of opposite sex, we should remember, "One-half of the US teenage population refrains from premarital sex, apparently with no mental or physical damage. The other half does not, and suffers venereal disease, unwanted pregnancy and emotional and mental problems. ... It requires no genius to know which half is better off.(3) Evidently, purity of body and mind helps in avoiding conflicts.
* We should first deserve then desire.
* We should be neat and well-organized. We should try to conserve natural resources and avoid pollution.
* We should remember that anger, pride, deceit and greed amount to violence towards the self. We should try to avoid situations that may lead to aggravations and problems.
* We should be gentle and courteous to all.
* We should not perform any good deed just for show but with a genuine desire to help others.
To The Sons Of India (4)
A Poem by Rabindranath Tagore
Before the glance of the West with its
pride of power, its traders rolling in luxury,
and its pomp and wealth, do not,
O sons of Bharat, feel ashamed to wear
your plain white garb and to live
your simple life with mein noble and calm.
Listen not to what they say,
keep your priceless treasure
in your heart, let it rest
on your brow as an invisible crown.
That which looks large and has been heaped high,
let it not overwhelm you, and do not
prostrate yourselves before it.
Place your free soul on the throne
of poverty, filling your mind
with the leisure of want.
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the house of its children. ... This is not a way of life. ... Under the cloud of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.
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(Shares of World Resources and expenditures) From the New York Times of October 25, 1981 |
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The above poem, quotation and statistics represent the sum and substance of the facts relevant to the Jain virtue of non-possessiveness. The culture of violence and greed has led people to adopt the notion that to fulfill one's obligation toward family and society one has to accumulate as much money and material as possible. Then to shed the feeling of guilt, one should spend some of it for charitable causes. The above facts bring out the hypocrisy of such notions and bankruptcy of such 'values'. According to Jainism, taking more than one's fair share is possessiveness, greed and stealing, and the painful karmas accumulated through passions of greed can not be shed by donations, which are usually made to satisfy one's ego. D. C. J.
Footnotes:
1. Jain Study Circular, volume 1, number 1, October 20, 1979. Back up
2. Jain Study Circular, volume 4, number 1, October 1, 1982. Back up
3. From New York Times. Back up
4. Jain Study Circular, volume 1, number 3, April 20, 1980. Back up
5. Jain Study Circular, volume 3, number 2, January 1, 1982. Back up