1. PRIMARY INSTINCTS AND AHIMSA.
It is
but natural for every living being , to hanker for peace and happiness . In
fact , every living creature of this world , weather a man or an animal , is
acting according to four primary instincts , namely instinct of (1) food , (2)
fear , (3) sexual appetite and (4) greed to hoard things . Howsoever
unmanifested and undeveloped may be the inner spiritual potentialities of a
living being , the abovenamed four instincts will always be present in its
working . A mere glance at life on this planet endorses this fact . Even a tiny
ant is seen toiling and moiling for its food. If anything comes into its path ,
it is seen hesistating and stopping to ascertain whether any
‘
fear ’ exists to
hinder its progress . Ants and other insects enjoy life in their own way and
their greed is even greater than man’s . Maunds of grain is found hoarded in
the ant-hills . This is the crude and ignorant way of living . They live it in
the manner of their instincts , which are wanting in spiritual awakening .
Their knowledge of discrimination between good and evil is limited rather
little . The animals know nothing of practical validity of knowledge beyond
their instincts . It is only man , who is naturally in a far developed condition
of knowledge . He possesses the mental power to discriminate between good and
evil . He understands as to what is good worth acquiring and what is evil ,
which he should give up . But the pity is that the modern man has become so
much engrossed in materialism , that his sense of discrimination between good
and evil , has almost disappeared . He thinks and calculates things according
to his greed and desire , as the animals do . He is ignorant of his true and
real nature . It never occurs to him that he is something more than a mere
bundle of flesh , bones and bodily force . His sojourn in this life is
certainly short; but his transmigration in wordly conditions is endless ;
because his thinking ‘ego’ ----- his soul is a simple substance and it can
never be destroyed . Desires and passions , of course , have crippled the soul;
otherwise soul is all perfect , full of knowledge , perceptions , power and
happiness in its nature . This is the higher nature of human beings , because
it is more manifest among themselves than animals .In animals too , such a soul
exists , but in a very less developed mundane condition .
Now ,
if a man loves his own soul and does not wish to be hurt by his fellow
creatures , he should behave in the like manner towards others and regard the
animals as his lesser brethren . Because , Ahimsa is not only an ethical law of
negation . It is in fact the law of nature , as it is but a characteristics of
the soul . Man should not cause injury to his own self or to other souls by
mind , speech or body under the sway of his animal instincts and passions . It
is but natural for man to love his fellow beings and live with them amicably .
Hence man is expected to act according to the biddings of his inner conscience
the VIVEKA-----his inherent power of discriminating between good and evil . But
a man infactuated with selfish motives and greed for acquiring power and wealth
, never cares to hear his inner voice : he is swayed away by his lower nature
and gladly trods the wrong path , which causes him only pain and misery . If
one reflects on the prevailing appalling conditions in the world , one would
certainly conclude that is surely something wrong with the ways and things of
the world . So much callousness , barbarity and warfare pervades the universe
that the very life of humanity is in danger . Nothing here has happened by
accident ; nor the present world chaos is the result of incurring the wrath of
any God on the peoples of the various nations of the world . The God is all
merciful and all perfect . He is beyond the reach of desires and evils of wrath
and pleasures never pollute Him . So He can never thrust the world into the
frying pan of misery and distress . Rather He abides in the heart of man as
TRUTH and always is at hand to guide him . In fact the prevalent world-wide
unrest and chaos is the result of man’s own wrong actions and mismanagement of
things . In a world of plenty , man is helpless and he finds food supplies in
great danger . The ruthless accumulation of wealth , utterly unmindful of the
distress of the millions , goes steadily on . Lawlessness is rampant . Nation
exploits nation . Man exploits his neighbour . These animosities and
inequalities cause conflict between man and man . Majority of mankind have
sought to find peace and happiness in external objects ; while the real peace
and happiness are the properties of the Soul . Animal nature and passion has
taken an uppermost seat in the heart of man . This is a state , which must
cause every thinking man to pause and consider . After all what is the root
cause of this distress and unrest ? Is there any way to be out of it ?
Certainly there is a way to set the things right . Centuries ago Lord
Mahavira , last Tirthankara of the Jains , whom Mahatma Gandhi regarded as the
‘ Greatest Apostle of Ahimsa ’ pointed out the Right Path of Liberation to the
erring world . From the view-point of Lord Mahavira , individual was the
fundamental factor of mass progress towards salvation and He taught the man to
reform himself . He told that “ the body is the prison of the soul , and flesh
its bitterest enemy . Owing to the dominion of the flesh the soul is undergoing
suffering in a number of ways and all its rank and power have been lost .
Immortal by nature , it is now living terror-struck with Death ; though
omniscient and blissful in its own right , it is ignorant and miserable now .
Yet , its Divine nature has not been altogether destroyed ; only its perfection
in that regard has been curtailed and it has been reduced to the condition of
helplessness . The evil influence of the flesh can , however , be destroyed ,
and the soul released from its power . And AHIMSA is the only weapon , which
can actually bring about this consummation so devoutly wished for . ”
Thus Mahavira preached the Religion of
Ahimsa and based it on Samyak-Purusartha , i.e. Right Activity which enjoined
upon man first of all to develope his sense of Viveka or proper discrimination
between good and evil and then to follow an active life substantiated with the
true spirit of non-attachment and universal love . On the basis of Ahimsa
Mahavira established a nucleus of universal Brotherhood of all living beings ,
since in Truth , all souls are one and equal . No difference and distinction
can be made between soul and soul , howsoever undeveloped their wordly status
may be . He proclaimad empathitaclly that every individual possesses same all
perfect soul who should be honoured and must not be slained : -
Thus we
enjoin on you , thus do we say ,
Thus we believe , thus we proclaim to all
:
No
living things should be slain any where,
Nor
ordered forcibly this way or that ,
Nor put
in bonds , nor tortured any way
Or
treated violently otherwise ;
Because
ye are the same which ye would slay
Or
order here or there against his will ,
Or put
in prison , or subject to pain ,
Or
treat with violance ; ye are the same ;
The
Self-same Life doth circulate in all .
-----Acharanga
Sutra.
Lord
Mahavira thus declared the TRUTH and said that this world is common to all :
both man and animals are wandering in this world since eternity due to their
wrong activity of mind , speech and body . Like
men , animals too desire to live and enjoy life . They also have an
equal right to live . Ahimsa is the very characteristic of soul and it is only
through Ahimsa that a man can live peacefully and can destroy the bondage of
flesh and Karma . In Ahimsa is hidden the fundamental principal of recognition
of ONE LIFE in all . Therefore , show no violen ce to any one ; hurt no one ,
injure none , not even an insect , this is the Gospel of Life . Ahimsa really
means , molest no one ; not even your own soul . Tirthankara Mahavira ,
therefore , finally proclaimed that Life is dear to all , as it is deal to you
. Hence let no one injure life ; but the individual should be as assiduous in
cherishing the life of another as his own . For Ahimsa is the Supreme Principle
and Highest Religion .
Such is
the Science of Religion as taught by the blessed omniscient Teacher and in it
lies hidden the Right Solution of the appalling world problem . Individual has
to correct him – self : because individuals form the nations .
Today
individual man has become engrossed fully in animal instincts . He is living in
ignorance . He is groping in the darkness of wrong belief . He has taken rope
for snake . Everyone claims that the ‘ Might is Right ’ , but none cares to
test the Truth . Yet however , mighty minds who ponder well and discriminate
between right and wrong reject the idea of innate aggressiveness in man . In an
instructive article in the “ Courier ” ( Feby 1954 , UNISCO Organ) , R. F.
Ashly Montagu , professor of anthropology at
“ All
the available evidence gathered by competent investigators indicates that man
is born without any aggressiveness within him whatsoever . The fact seems to be
that aggressiveness usually develops in the child is a result of frustration .
The school of evolutionary thought which preached the struggle for existance
and the survival of the fittest , gave a onesided view of nature as a
competitive ‘red in tooth and claw’ process , and omitted almost entirely the
factors of cooperation and mutual aid , which play so great a role in the
ecology , the balance , of nature --- We find that man is the most plastic ,
the most malleable , the most educable , of all living ... What most persons
have taken human nature is actually the acquired behaviour of the person . ”
Thus it
is obvious that behind the animal instincts , there exists the fundamental
spiritual potentiality of Truth and Ahimsa in man . And since the same soul
abides in every living being the nature of Ahimsa applies to them also . Soul
in itself is non-violent by nature , but since it is imprisoned in body by the result
of his own actions of pollution and violence , it has acquired an outwardly
behaviour , which is called
“ Vaibhavic ” in
the Jains scriptures .
Therefore it being the creation of individual soul itself , it has
marred its inherent beauty and crippled its perfect potentiality . To act
through mind , speech and body is but natural for a Wordly soul ; yet the
individual can use it power of discrimination between good and evil . To cause
injury to others out of anger , conceit , deceit and greed is an evil act ,
because it hurt the peaceful nature of soul itself and disturb the outwordly
peace as well . Due to this action the individual soul attracts and binds with
it a very fine atomical matter , which turn into an unpleasurable and painful
atomics energy , called Vaibhavic (
acquired personality and results in creating miserable and painful
circumstances . Therefore in this atomic age when one is blindly led to believe
in the power of nuclear weapons and when the tests of such .
The immortality
of his Soul is beyond question ; yet he thinks himself a poor mortal .
Certainly he has forgotten that he is something more than mere dust . His body
returneth , of course , to dust , but his soul remains ever shining in
consciousness . Yet , he is so attached to unreal things that he acts to the
wrongful biddings of his lower nature . He follows his animal desires
pertaining to flesh blindly and thereby transgress the very Law of Existance
called Ahimsa . Violating the Law of nature , one can little except to be happy
, because he binds unpleasnat Karmic energy with his soul which results in pain
.
It has
been already pointed out that the main moving of indiviual activity in this
world , are the four primary instincts of food , fear , sexual craving and
greed of acquisition . Tendencies and traits of individual character arise from
their modifications . An animal has almost no character : it only behaves
itself in the maner of its inborn tendencies , which are formed according to
its mundane soul’s past actions and their results . The individual man ,
likewise , who has not succeeded in controlling his movements and acts only
according to his inborn but acquired tendencies , is but an animal in human
form . Yet since the individual man learns to act according to his VIVEKA
conscience and controls his desires , he rises higher in self-realisation and
gladly practises the principal of non-violance in his daily dealings . He
improves his tendencies and instincts by self-control and accumulates a
pleasant Karmic energy . So the Way of Ahimsa is the