An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide: Lack Of Teaching, Training, Grounding, And Discussion On Ahimsa

Experience shows that experiments in the use of himsa (violence) do not succeed without training. Today, there are many centers in the world that impart training in himsa. Some of them are being run in the name of national security, while others are being operated with a specific purpose of gaining some benefits or advantages. Violence cannot take an aggravated and barbaric form without intensive training.

It is also absolutely true that without training, one’s consciousness of non-violence can neither be awakened nor developed. Life today is full of problems that need solutions. Non-violence is a solution. What we need is its systematic training. Training in non-violence is essential for all.

Knowingly, unknowingly, directly, and indirectly, today’s lifestyle involves hundreds of tiny, daily examples of himsa, mostly hidden from our views, in our own lives. Certainly, our lives today are more himsa-filled than was perhaps even one hundred years ago; every day society and corporations are inventing newer and more intensive ways to commit larger scale and more barbaric himsak actions and products.

How will anyone know and understand ahimsa when there is a lack of any organized and formal discussion, teaching, training, and grounding in ahimsa? How do we begin to consider this undertaking when we recognize that many youngsters, and let alone adults don’t have this knowledge? Some adults may have advanced academic and scriptural knowledge but very little understanding about the application of ahimsa in daily life outside the temple.

In the temples, Jains mostly learn the rituals. From the environment in which Jains grow and live, mostly they learn about Thali (the food plate) and how to avoid or minimize himsa for Thali. In most Jain temples, derasars, sthanaks, and places of worship, there are not sufficient (especially in India) arrangements for Jain pathshalas (teaching schools/classes). Even if they are there, there is very little interest and effort in imparting realistic, practical and rational education about ahimsa. Yes, in some places, we do teach kids the basic Jain stotras (hymns) and mantras, but seldom do we go much beyond.

Let me share with you the importance of early education and role models. About twent years ago, when we were living in Cincinnati, Ohio, one Jain couple (both raised in highly religious families in India) came to visit us for dinner with their two teenage boys. As is the custom with us, before sitting down for dinner, I asked the couple and their kids to do the darshan (visit) of the small Jain household temple that we had built in our home. Inside this household temple (chaityalya), we had on one wall a photo of a Jain Sathankvasi sadhu with a mukhvastrika (mouth covering cloth) and against another wall we had a nine-inch pratima (idol) of Bhagwan Mahavir in pure white marble.

As soon as I opened the doors of the temple, and put the lights on, the parents bowed down but the kids did not and said to their parents, “The guy in mukhvastrika looks funny with his face covering,” and asked why a stone was there [referring to the pratima]. This was very embarrassing for all of us and parents kept on telling their children to keep their mouths shut and not say such bad words.

At this stage, I told the parents that the fault lies with them, the parents and not with the children as they had no grounding, in any shape or form, about Jainism and items of worship and reverence and hence the pratima was just a piece of stone. About a month later, another Indian couple —but non-Jains—came to visit us for dinner. Then too, I did the same ritual with them. As soon as I opened the temple doors and put the lights on, the couple along with their three teenage boys lay prostrate (in shashtaang) on the ground and paid their respects and reverence to the temple, and to all the objects of worship there in. No one questioned what and why. I was a bit surprised since none of them was Jain. To this, the father replied, “Sulekh-ji, from their birth, all the kids have been given grounding in showing respects and reverence to all religions.”

This is where proper and early grounding comes in. I believe that if a proper, practical, and early grounding in ahimsa can be provided during the important developmental years, when young people become adults, they will not easily go astray. I have heard of and seen several Jain youths who grew up in strict Jain families in India, and as soon as they boarded a flight to come to the US from India, ordered non-veg foods at the very first opportunity, far away from the watchful eyes of their parents in India. The clear reason for this transgression is that these young people never received any real grounding in ahimsa from their parents, sadhus, temples, or from the environment in which they grew up.

Quite often, I meet Jain boys and girls in their twenties who are in US as temporary IT professionals. When I ask them about their grounding in Jainism and Ahimsa, they look at me as if I was speaking a foreign language.