Methods of Mahavira for Social Change [4/7] Method To Propound The Philosophy Of Fighting Defensive Wars And Of Vegetarianism

4.0 Method To Propound The Philosophy Of Fighting Defensive Wars And Of Vegetarianism

The term hińsā may be defined as the committing of injury to the Dravya- Prāņas and the Bhāva- Prāņas through the operation of intense-passion-infected Yoga (activity of mind, body, and speech).[19] Suicide, homicide and killing of any other life whatsoever aptly sum up the nature of hińsā, inasmuch as these villainous actions are rendered conceivable only when the Dravya- Prāņas and the Bhāva- Prāņas pertaining to oneself and to others are injured. The minimum number of Dravya- Prāņas has been considered to be four and the maximum has been known to be ten; and the Bhāva- Prāņas are the very attributes of Jīvas. The amount of injury will thus be commensurate with the number of Prāņas injured at a particular time and occasion. Hińsā is of two kinds, namely, intentional and non-intentional.[20] The intentional perpetrator of hińsā engages himself in the commitment of the acts of hińsā by his own mind, speech and action; provokes others to commit them; and endorses such acts of others. Besides, hińsā that is unavoidably committed by defending oneself from one's foes is denominated as non-intentional defensive hińsā. This leads us to the philosophy of fighting defensive wars.[21]

Now the householder is incapable of turning away completely from hińsā; hence he should keep himself away from the deliberate commission of hińsā of the two-sensed to fivesensed beings.[22] The commitment of hińsā in adopting defensive contrivances, cannot be counteracted by him. Thus he has to commit intentional injury to one-sensed Jīvas, namely, the vegetable-bodied, the fire-bodied etc; and non-intentional injury in fighting defensive wars. Even in the realm of one-sensed J Jīvas and in the realm of fighting defensive wars he is required to confine his operations in such a way as may affect the life and existence of a very limited number of Jīvas.[23] In these two provinces the point to be noted is that of alleviating the amount of injury that is apt to be caused and not that of total relinquishment which is not possible without jeopardizing the survival of man. The hard fact to be noted is that man is subject to hińsā by the very condition of his existence. Yet instead of aggravating the natural weight of hińsā by falling foul upon one another and by our cruel treatment of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, we should endeavour to alleviate this general curse, to the extent to which we are capable of doing, by conforming ourselves to the sacred injunctions enjoined by Jaina spiritual teachers. Vegetarianism is therefore prescribed. It limits us to the unavoidable injury caused to only one-sensed-Jīvas. This is the philosophy of vegetarianism propounded by Jainism. 

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