International Conference on Science and Jain Philosophy
Dr. S.S. Pokharna, Former Scientist, Indian Space Research Organization is a Consultant at Hitech Outsourcing Services, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. He is also the Advisor of Bhagawan Mahavir International Center, Ladnun, Rajasthan, India.
If we look at the state of our planet as on today then we find that half of the animals in the world have disappeared since Last 40 years. It is because of uncontrollable human expansion. A report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has found that populations of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish have declined on average by 52 per cent in the last 40 years (1970-2010). And for freshwater creatures the situation is even bleaker, with population collapse of more than three quarters over the same period. Almost the entire decline is due to human activity, through habitat loss, deforestation, climate change, over-fishing and hunting. If this is not adequate enough to shock the human soul, there is another heart burning news, and it that every year, we are losing almost 25000 biological species. But this again only one side of the coin. We also observe a large increase in terrorist activities and sense less violence in daily life in many countries in the recent times, including attacks on women etc. An increase in ill feelings towards competitors and even fellow beings can be also observed these days. There is another side of the issue. It is damage done to the environment by eating non-vegetarian food. Here are some real facts which showcase that how "meat production" is affecting overall ecosystem and environment It shows that Land area required to produce non-vegetarian food and water is about 10 times and about 20 times more respectively than what is required for producing the same amount of vegetarian food.
In this scenario, the Jain concept of non-violence can play an important role in bringing about a substantial positive change in this situation, since Jainism talks to protect not only human beings but also all living beings in the world. Not only this, Jainism also talks of not to even hurt the feelings of any living beings in the world. It goes even further and say one should not involve in any action or even directly or indirectly support any activity which hurts any living being or their feelings. Hence in view of the above developments, there is a need to propagate the concept of non-violence on a large scale in the whole world and educate the people about its importance. Now the United Nations Organization (UNO) has declared October 2, the birth day of Mahatma Gandhi as an International Non-violence Day in June 15, 2007. There is a need to celebrate October 2 as an International non-violence day in 192 member countries of UN in particular to make the people aware of these issues and an overall improvement in world's environment.
As Gandhiji learned the concept of non-violence from Shrimad Raj Chandji, a great Jain saint and also Jainism has put maximum emphasis on non-violence, so it is responsibility of the Jain community to take a big lead in this direction.
So Jain community should play a proactive role in first celebrating this day as non-violence day on a very large scale in India along the same scale as the International Yoga day was celebrated on June 21 this year. A policy framework should be prepared for this. Various International organizations should be involved. All religious groups should be brought on the same platform for this purpose. Literature should be prepared in different languages of the world. All heads of states should be communicated about the importance of non-violence in the modern context.
In this era of globalization, where communication through satellite technology like internet, emails, whatsapp, sms, digital apps like digital language translators, tweets, facebook, should be optimally used for this purpose. Seminars and conferences should be organized with organizations working for similar objectives like PETA, WWF and others. Televisions programs and films should be prepared. A small experiment was carried out on this day in 2015 in Ahmedabad. About 10,000 pamphlets in Hindi containing messages of all religious leaders about Ahimsa were distributed in Ahmedabad. A film on ahimsa is being prepared in Hindi which will highlight work of all religions about ahimsa. An essay competition was organized entitled "Gandhi, Ahimsa air Aaj" for sixty departments of Gujarat University. About 280 students from different religious communities actively participated in this competition. Such small examples should be amplified thousands of times. A plan should be made to educated at least one billion people by October 2016. Youths all over the world should be encouraged to join this movement.
