Yes these are modern times wherein we can
travel thousand of Km in an hour, talk across oceans at the touch of a button,
collect information across the globe sitting in a chair. But has it changed the
reality ? The sun still rises from the east, we still feel the hunger, we still
eat food and sleep and in spite of all the modern health care we fall sick also
and above all , still die. What does it all imply ? It means that in spite of
all the modernisation there are certain truths which cannot be changed. Even
though we may bury it deep, hide it, forget it , still it would reemerge as
truth only without any change. Bhagwan Mahavir’s teachings belong to the same
category which cannot change by
vagaries of times. In fact he did not preach anything new , he merely
reiterated what was already told by Bhagwan Adinath thousands of years earlier.
Due to passage of time, the truth was getting eroded and by his sermon he
revived the same truth. He did not change the contents or character of the
same. Truth is timeless and remains unchanged irrespective of vagaries of time
, whether times are modern or ancient .
The truth he described is the nature of reality. We as jivas or
souls are entirely different from the ajiva or matter. We are conscious souls
who have the capability to be all knowing and seeing while matter is inert
without consciousness. Unfortunately we do not realise this and treat the
matter as ourselves and establish oneness and ownership with the same. This ignorance
alone is the cause of endless transmigration of soul through times. Right
realisation or samyak darshan would lead us to the differentiation of the soul
from the matter which in turn would lead us to right knowledge and conduct
thereby resulting in attainment of sidhhahood of the same type which Mahavir
attained. These principles only are the nature of reality which can also be
called as Dharma which is as fundamental to soul as death to an earthling.
Hence even if these principles are
called by another name rather than Jainism , it cannot change the reality.
Similarly , the passage of time cannot modify it in any way.
In these modern times people tend to
ignore the reality and talk about practicality. In fact this question haunts
quite a few parents whether to teach their children to be truthful or honest.
After all the world is full of corruption , deceit and dishonesty. They worry
that if the children are honest and truthful, then they cannot survive in this
competitive world and hence they need to be practical and street smart,
therefore they need not be entirely truthful or honest. This practicality and
manipulative nature would ensure their survival and growth to higher levels in
their business or jobs.
Similar statements are also made about the
community also when such difficulties arise due to external reasons. Then also
it is expected that community should organise actions using their influence ,
resources , so as to get justice. It is common to hear people saying that survival of Jainism is at stake and one
should contribute towards its uplifting by whatever means.
The question arises whether such activities
and principles are against the values taught by Bhagwan Mahavir or not ? Just
as teaching children to be street smart or manipulative maybe considered to be a practical way of survival
in future , in the same way , can agitations or
fighting be considered to be a practical way of survival of the
community and Jainism.
To answer these very pertinent and burning
questions , we can look at some of the examples given in scripture as well as
history.
Our puranas do contain several instances
which can be used to guide us through such difficulties. First instance is the
episode of Muni Akampanacharya who along with 700 of his followers decided to
enter Sallekhna till the atrocities of
the King Bali towards themselves and animals was not removed. Ultimately they
were rescued by Muni Vishnukumar. This example tells us that basic principles
of Jainism cannot be compromised even at the cost of own lives as demonstrated
by Muni Akampanacharya. In the same story , we can also recall how Muni
Srutasagar entered into argument with Bali and
his friends which led to the taking of revenge by Bali.
Even though Muni Srutasagar was innocent , but his argument with wicked people
led to hardship to all. The message is that the life is too short to enter into
such indulgence in worldly affairs and
spend it, even if you are right.
One may think that the example quoted above
is that of a Muni who are anyway practicing severe conduct hence they can take afford
to take such drastic steps while ordinary menfolk cannot take such decisions.
Therefore let us take a look at the example of a ferocious lion who was told by
two munis not to kill animals for food purposes. That lion attained right
belief and once he had the right realisation , he started practicing severe
penance with fasting without killing animals and ultimately became lord Mahavir
ten births later.
Now this lion could have answered the two
Munis back that he is merely an animal and that too carnivorous hence he cannot
abstain from killing animals for food. Nor did he ask the opinion of other
fellow lions on the course of action to be taken in response to the call given
by the munis . He did not ask the community of lions to take collective vow to
abstain from killing either. He took the decision of proceeding on the right
path irrespective of what other lions do or not do. He straight away adopted
and followed the principles of non violence on his own , even at the cost of
his own life. This is a very simple and effective example of how a Jain should
lead his life even in these modern times. It is by following the same values and
same principles at whatever cost.
The history also provides us some examples
which we can consider to guide us through. First example is that of the twelve
year famine which caused migration of large number of Jain sadhus from North to
South to avoid difficulties in getting alms and prevent hardship on the residents. A certain segment stayed behind which was
forced to compromise on certain basic issues and giving up certain values.
Later this segment reconciled to this change in values and got used to it and
hence when time came to correct the mistake they decided that it was not
required to do so and they could justify the decision taken. This example is very pertinent and important.
This
shows that the compromising with the values can lead to distortion/obscuration of reality at our own peril. The truth gets
further away from us with time and it becomes harder to rediscover it.
The times today are much worse or more
difficult than two thousand years back. At every step on the way such
requirements of compromise and amendment is felt. But while such
adjustments may appear to be acceptable for survival of people and the
religion but we forget that we as individual have been doing the same from
beginningless time and are yet to see the end of the tunnel of darkness. Such erroneous
decisions ensure our continuity in the same transmigration cycle. This is not
what Bhagwan Mahavir preached and by diluting his teachings we cannot attain
the right result.
Another historical example which can be
quoted is the happening in Tamilnadu around 7th century at the time
of King Pandiyan who was a non Jain. Rather than submit to his dictates , 8000
sadhus left the village overnight each writing a verse which was known as
Naladiyaar.
In this example also we see that the values
taught by Mahavir are not compromisable even at the cost of life or
difficulties.
Thus from these examples we can derive
certain basic fundamental rules which are inherently evident. Firstly , since
each Jiva is independent of other jiva , and everyone of them enjoys the fruits
of his karmas individually , one cannot pass it on to others nor share it with
others. Therefore one should not expect others to protect him or help him.
Secondly , the basic principles of Jainism taught by Bhagwan Mahavir cannot be
compromised or diluted just because certain difficulties are experienced or
because the times are modern. What is at stake is much much higher than current
life. It is a matter of choosing between the salvation and endless journey into
transmigrations. One wrong decision can push us back by millions of years rather than just few years
of current life. Hence the choice has to be clear.
We already know that we are living in 5th
kala i.e. the Dushma kala of the Bharata Kshetra time cycle. We accept that
there is no Moksha in this period here. But we are not able to reconcile with
the deterioration of the values during this period and hence we get agitated
and perturbed saying that survival of Jainism is at stake. Actually nothing
should surprise us if we believe the
scripture truly. Our test is to remain unperturbed by these happenings around
us and accept all the good and bad events with the same spirit of equanimity and
detachment. That only would avoid accrual of karmas due to attachments. In fact
by doing so only we would be practicing the values preached by Mahavir.
Otherwise it would be only an oral tribute. All calamities whether man made or
natural should be viewed with the same spirit of veetraga or detachment.
It may happen that Jainism may not survive
the onslaught of time due to various fanatical pressures of the modern world.
This should not perturb us from practicing the true values we know. Since,
even if that happens , it would still
not change the value of Mahavir’s preaching nor the truth. This is not the
first time it would have happened since this happened between the times of all
tirthankaras but it did not obliterate the truth or its principles. Every
tirthankara had to rediscover it and preach it for the benefit of mankind. But
for those who want to traverse on the path to liberation , it does not change
at all.
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