Jain View Of Life: 1.07 Foundation of the Healthy Society

Foundation of the Healthy Society

Meeting was held through animals. The question was put in it, who is the most mean and selfish one? The crow said "It is the man who is selfish". The monkey did not agree with it. Once the man was passing through forest. A tiger ran after him. The monkey gave shelter to the man. After a while man started to sleep, then the tiger told the monkey, "We are animals of forest, what relation do we have with man and look, the man is very cunning, his behaviour is treacherous, so push man down on the ground.

The monkey said, "How can I misbehave with the man who has sheltered me, who has developed friendship with me. After saying this statement, the monkey became silent. After a couple of minutes the monkey started to sleep, when the monkey was in deep slumber, the tiger said to the man, "You are captive in the forest, you cannot leave this place, I should not let you move from here, your wife is waiting for you, so push the monkey down". The selfish man agreed to this logic and pushed the monkey. At once the monkey woke up, he saw that he was being pushed down by the crooked man.

The monkey said, "Today I have experienced that the man is the most unfaithful being in the world". The greatest need for the human beings is to forsake selfishness and develop moral values in life. For that, consciousness of man must be transformed, otherwise problems will be multiplying. Now a days the world is facing complicated situation.

Problems are of environment or arms, race of terrorism or poverty, of castism or communalism, of the erosion of moral values or increasing crack in human relations. There is fear of violence and terror everywhere. Human values like morality, honesty, restraint, righteous conduct are sent away in the background. Man is entangled in his own problems to such an extent that he has no time left to think about anyone else.

Independence of consciousness.

India became independent on 15th August, 1947. The leaders were perplexed with the problem of development of the country. The leaders were busy with building dams, setting up factories, electrical plants but not cared for arousing the sentiments of the national consciousness and upholding up moral values. Dark shadows of immoral conduct were causing terror in the hearts of the people. At that time Ganadhipati Tulsi and Acharya Mahapragya pondered over problems regarding human's nature and its results. As a result, Ganadhipati Tulsi launched an Anuvrat Movement in March, 1949 at Sardarshahar. Anuvrat came in the form of a moral movement and character building.

Anuvrat: Human code of conduct.

The term Anuvrat is a combination of two words, Anu means small and Vrat means a Vow. A code of conduct embodying small vows came to be called Anuvrat. Anuvrat is not restricted to any cast, community, country or language. It is a human code of conduct. If implies style of living life as human being. It is a state of consciousness in which violence and cruelty cannot exist. The individual who develops such consciousness does not kill any innocent living creature. He neither participates in any act of sabotage activity nor he attacks any one.

He lives free from thoughts of customs, communalism and discrimination. He thinks untouchablity as sinful activity. He regards money not as an end, but a mean in life. As a result he is conscious about honesty in economical affairs. He keeps himself far from buying and selling of votes as well as social evil practices. Being always alert leading a sublime life he refrains from addictions, problems of environment. In such a way, Anuvrat code of conduct brings man nearer to moral values.

Anuvrat: Code of Conduct

1. I will not willfully kill any innocent creatures.
   I will not commit suicide.
   I will not commit foeticide.
   
   
2. I will not attack anybody.
   I will not support aggression.
   I will endeavor to bring about.
   
   
3. I will not take part in violent agitation's or in any destructive activities.
   
   
4. I will believe in human unity.
   I will not discriminate on the basis of cast, colour, sect etc., nor will I treat anyone as untouchable.
   
   
5. I will practice religious toleration.
   I will not rouse sectarian frenzy.
   
   
6. I will observe rectitude in business and general behaviours.
   I will not harm others in order to serve any ends.
   I will not practice deceit.
   
   
7. I will set limit to the practice of continence and acquisition.
   
   
8. I will not resort to unethical practices in elections.
   
   
9. I will not encourage socially, evil customs.
   
   
10. I will lead a life free from addictions.
    I will not use intoxication like alcohol, hemp, heroin, tobacco etc.
    
    
11. I will always be alert to the problem of keeping the environment pollution free.
    I will not cut down trees.
    I will not waste water.

Obligatory to practice.

For every Anuvrati it is obligatory to practice the Anuvrats of the class concerned. The observances of the vows lead to a change in life style. Only with that change it is possible to have happiness and peace. Anuvrat presents a model of an ideal human being.

Preksha Dhyan (Perceptive meditation) is a practical exercise to mould life according to the model. Jivan Vigyan is the art of living and training of moral values. Each of them has its value individually. All energies should be directed towards carrying out the programs which is relevant at a particular movement; none of them is superior or inferior. If all the three have to be evaluated together. Tangible results pertaining to individual, family and society reformation can be seen.

Transformation.

Spiritualism and science are attempting to transform man. A scientist conducted an experiment on some people given to addiction to intoxicating substances. Scientist passed electric vibrations on their ears of the seventy, fifty persons. As a result they developed abhorrence for alcohol, cigarettes. The teachers gave training in Prekshadhyan, asked people to concentrate on their ears. This led them to de-addiction. By practicing concentration on psychic center (Chetanya Kendra) like Jyoti Kendra, Darshan Kendra etc., once emotions and impulses are controlled, as a result of which man gets transformed.

The Anuvrat code of conduct can be applied to prepare the ground to change distortions. Every rule of the code of conduct can open a new horizon for the thinking of an individual. Alongwith it, pursuit of good literature can also help to remove the distortions that might be shrouding consciousness. Healthy consciousness can be developed if a campaign is carried on to change the impressions both in principal and in practice.

Clarification of Rules.

The first rule of Anuvrat is that I will not kill any innocent creature. To satisfy his or her need a person commits violence, engages himself in violent activities. It is true to a certain extent that man cannot live without violence. Violence, discriminations, intoleration, dishonesty is not nature of a soul. These tendencies are vibhava. Vibhava is the state of disease and Svabhava is the state of health. The difficulty is that the man regards vibhava as svabhava and vice versa. Man goes to doctor when he is physically ill. He describes his illness and gets himself treated. Illness can be cured. If the symptoms are correctly described, the trouble is properly diagnosed. Violence is an emotional malady. The person who is afflicted by such a sickness becomes aggressive for no reason at all. Some-limes he commits violence in the name of entertainment, sometimes he kills birds and animals because of his love for testy food, sometimes provoked by a desire to take revenge and the feeling of insecurity at heart also forces him to indulge in violence. If the rule Anuvrat non-violence is followed, violence can be checked.

The walls of casteism and communalism divide the people. To make such walls transparent, anuvrat gave slogan "Man is first a man than he is a Hindu or a Muslim".

Rectitude in business.

One of the important vow of Anuvrat is that I shall observe rectitude in business and behaviour. Today a person is becoming dishonest and cruel due to greed. He is not caring for the result of dishonesty or greed. Though he has progressed ideologically, basically or intellectually, but spiritually he is zero. It was an incident of England, an Indian lived as paying guest at the house of British gentleman who used to deal in milk distribution. Once the daughter of the owner of that house was sad. The Indian inquired about the cause of her worry. She said "I have to supply a lot of milk today, but the stock with me is limited. How shall I be able to meet the demands of the customers"? It was a genuine problem for the daughter, but it was not a problem for the Indian. He calculated the gap between demand and supply. He said "You have already got two mounds of milk. You may easily mix some water in it. Your problem will be solved".

She was vexed to hear this. She went to her father and said, oh father, the person whom you have provided lodging in this house is a demon. He has given me a wrong advise to mixing water in the milk. Should I spoil the health of my countrymen giving them adulterate milk? Please, turn such person out of our house, who is such dishonest? Observation of rectitude in business and general behaviour puts a solid foundation on one's character building. It is said that if wealth is lost, nothing is lost. If health is lost, something is lost. If character is lost, everything is lost. Harishchandra bore all hardships to be honest in his behaviour. Socrates had drink poison to maintain his ideology. Christ and Mansoor had to be hanged on account of their principals. Because in their mind, honesty is the best policy for leading peaceful life.

Healthy human being

"Purifying election is one of the programs of Anuvrat". The campaign for freedom from Intoxication's is a concrete program of Anuvrat. Intoxication makes one's character hollow from within. Intoxication is another name of ruin. If people makes concrete and intensive efforts for deaddiction [detoxification], our dream of a healthy human beings and a healthy society can be realised. With a view to establish contact with man all over the world and to teach the lesson "The world is family", Anuvrat gave a slogan "We are all one". To fulfill the aim Ganadhipati Tulsi and Acharya Mahapragya undertook long tours in connection with Anuvrat and developed wide public contacts during these travels. Enlightened and thinking people of the country met them. They had interaction with them regarding many questions. Suggestions made by some of them proved to be very useful for them. A lot of writing was done about Anuvrat. Anuvrat has come to be widely known in the field of education. People recognised Tulsi through Anuvrat and Annuvrat through him. So much identity between individual and the program is possible only when there are some good results. The campaign which began a small step has now grown from the seed into a banyan tree. This movement is turning into an international movement extending beyond the boundaries of the Country. The Anuvrat is a small lamp to fight against the thickening darkness of mistrust, instability and a faithlessness. Its power is limited, still it can give light on the path as we proceed on it step by step. The Anuvrat program is very small, but its field is very wide. It is put to proper use for freeing people from violence, corruption, crime etc.

Anuvrat: The ray to reform man

The individual is the component of society. The social structure, national consciousness is afflicted by an individual’s habits. Individual is the smallest unit of the entire world. If the individual is healthy it leads to greater social health. The health of the nation is influenced by the healthy social order. If all the nations of the world are healthy it would be possible to create a healthy world. Anuvrat is the ray of hope to reform man, society, nation as well as world. It is a model which provides an atmosphere to live a happy, peaceful and balanced life.