Acharya Tulsi
Keeping in mind the stages of self-development, the Jain Tirthankaras have described fourteen stages of the soul, for which the terms jeevasthan [1] or gunasthan has been used. In these fourteen stages, the base of consciousness till six stages is not clear. It has traces of morbid trends. A wayward attitude is the biggest factor that debases consciousness. So long as an appropriate outlook is not developed, purity of consciousness cannot become the goal. The development of consciousness can be judged only on the basis of its purity. The greater the purity of consciousness, the brighter and purer would be the glow of one's personality. Crime cannot find its way in the case of the person who possesses the sacred glow.
At the fourth stage, the view becomes right. The person recognizes good as the good and evil as the evil. But he is not able to abandon any practice just by recognizing it as evil. He who indulges in intoxication knows that his future is dark, yet is unable to give it up because the right view is related to the elimination of delusion producing perverse view. Since the elimination and suppression of delusion producing unethical practice is instrumental in abandoning an evil practice, the person in the fifth stage is not able to maintain the radiance of his conduct.
The person who has reached the sixth stage, resolves to behave righteously. His resolve continues to be strengthened so long as he is vigilant. The moment he becomes less vigilant, he slips and breaks his own resolve. His consciousness wavers, and unwittingly, he moves towards committing a crime. Once a person steps into the ensnaring world of crime, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to come out of it.
Moving Towards Crime
Man desires to live in happiness. He wishes to be always cheerful. There are many ways leading to happiness and the cheerful state of mind. I would like to discuss two ways at this state - being enriched with good sanskaras or being devoid of sanskaras. The person who has been enriched with spiritual sanskaras experiences happiness in the purity of the Soul. But the person devoid of such sanskaras aspires to acquire the means of comfort and convenience at any cost. He looks only at the present and is satisfied by regarding the mere semblance of happiness as real happiness. A person imbued with good sanskaras takes into consideration the consequences of his action as well. He knows that whatever brings only momentary happiness, ultimately becomes the cause of unhappiness. That is why in spite of being attracted by the sweet taste of honey, he does not ignore the dangers that hover over life.
The person, who is dazzled by material prosperity, outward show and the latest means of convenience, forgets to draw the line of distinction between what should be done and what should not be done. There is a Sanskrit sloka, which describes the state of mind of much a person:
"The person who is obsessed with the desire to become famous, breaks the pots, tears the clothes, rides a donkey and does anything that is unworthy. The desire to achieve fame by any means is the result of the consciousness eclipsed by illusion.[2]"
A person, who murdered seven men for no reason, was arrested. He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment. His photograph was published in the newspapers. The jailor showed him that newspaper. That man jumped with delight. When the jailor asked him about his unnatural reaction, that man replied, "My dream has been fulfilled. When I saw the photographs of big people in the newspapers, I wished that my photograph also should be published. I made several attempts but to no purpose. Ultimately, I decided to murder some people. Today, I am happy even though I am a prisoner." The aspiration to become famous made the person a criminal. In the same manner, an irrespressible desire to get something or be something provokes man to commit crimes.
Psychological Reasons for Crime
The past sanskaras and the present environment are the two psychological reasons leading to criminal mentality. However, some people take to crime even when there are no such compulsions resulting from their particular circumstances. Mainly, their acquired sanskaras lead them to commit crimes. Some people commit crimes under the influence of their environment. It may be the environment in the family, influence of friends or society or of the audio-visual media. The adolescents and the youth of today turn to crime because of the most powerful influence of films. The films that are shown in the theatres and on television, are so replete with the scenes depicting violence and sex that anyone who watches them repeatedly is provoked to act them out in his actual life.
A woman was passing through a crowded market area of London with her three year old son. She stopped in front of a showroom. She made the boy stand outside and entered the shop to do some shopping. She found her son missing when she returned after five minutes. She started screaming. The police was on the alert and immediately the search started. At a little distance from that shopping centre, the body of the child was discovered in a deserted spot. The two killers standing nearby were arrested. They were just ten or eleven years old. When they were asked why they killed that child, they said," We wanted to feel the thrill of killing!"
Looking for such thrills, that too by the adolescents, poses a very major problem before the civilised society of today. It is possible that those adolescent boys had seen some films showing torturing of human beings. What an abominable crime it is to feel infected by the frenzy of the characters committing murder in films and putting an end to the life of an innocent child! This is an incident that took place in one particular country. Who can say how many similar incidents take place the world over?
Like murder, rape is also a serious crime. This activity of torturing women is increasing instead of declining. According to the figures collected by the crime record bureau of the Union Home Ministry, the cases of rape have gone up by 400 per cent during the past two decades. Everyone who is engaged in doing research or survey on this subject, is well aware of the big role played by the films and the Doordarshan in encouraging such criminal mentality.
Money also is a Factor
One of the factor's leading to crime is money. It is a fact that money is needed to live. There would have been no problem if money had been accepted as a means and attention had been paid to keep the source of livelihood clean. The complication arises when the means are given the high position then the ends and are regarded as the cause for luxurious and high status and clean method of acquiring money is given the secondary importance. It is only on this ground that the activity of smuggling is thriving. Let me cite an example of how the white collared people who give the impression of being very respectable and friendly can cheat.
A Jain gentleman of India returned to India from his foreign tour. He wanted to go to Jaipur from Delhi. He stood in the queue to buy his bus ticket. An unknown young man got the ticket for him. He helped him put his suitcases in the bus and sat by his side as a cotraveller. That young man said that he too was bound for Jaipur.
At four o'clock in the morning, the bus stopped at the Bah road bus stand. Many passengers got down. That Jain gentleman had no desire to eat or drink anything. That young man travelling with him brought some pakoris. The Jain gentleman said he would not eat before sunrise. After that, the young man brought a cold drink. The Jain gentleman was reluctant to accept even that. Another cotraveller said, “He is talking so much trouble for you. Why don't you take a sip?" He could not refuse although he had no desire to take that drink. He took that drink. Soon the bus started. Sometime later, the man lost consciousness. The bus reached Jaipur, but that Jain gentleman was still unconscious. In the meantime that cotraveller of his walked away with his suitcases and no one could say where he had gone.
In this case, only one young man was involved. But there are big gangs of such man operating. They operate in a highly organised manner. This is an example to show to what low depths the members of good and respectable families stoop because of their greed for money. It is rightly said that money is the root cause of evil.
Need for Devotion to Resolve
There can be no crime when one's consciousness is pure. Wherever crimes are committed, consciousness gets warped. It may be asked if the warped consciousness should be considered consciousness at all. But the definition of consciousness would not change according to our belief. According to the Jain philosophy, if knowledge, philosophy and their application relate to the Soul, indolence and the feelings like lust, anger, greed etc. also relate the Soul. That Soul at all stages is the Soul. Similarly, he distorted consciousness too is consciousness like the pure consciousness. To purify consciousness it is necessary to remove its distortions. It is necessary to change the criminal mentality.
The anuvrat code of conduct can be applied to prepare the ground to change the criminal mentality. Every rule of the code can open a new horizon for the thinking of an individual. Along with it, pursuit of good literature can also remove the distortions that might be shrouding consciousness. An interesting literary genre is the story. Ancient rishis and sages made purposeful use of the story technique to inculcate good sanskaras. It was probably with this idea the works like Panchatantra Hitonadesa etc. were written. Today, the story has been replaced by television. Its serials too are stories whether long or short. But because their purpose is not appropriate, they are encouraging criminal mentality.
Where does the root of criminal mentality lie? We shall not find any solution to the problem by getting entangled in this question. Instead, let there be more stress on purification of consciousness and move in that direction with unswerving devotion and unflinching resolve. Healthy consciousness can be developed if a campaign is carried on to change the sanskaras both in principle and in practice.
