Ahimsa- The Science of Peace

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Man, when he first opened his eyes, must have been astonished to see the infinite varieties of things and phenomena around him. When, he closed his eyes, he must have been equally astonished with his capacity to look into the world within. This capacity of observing the self in association with the environs as well as independently made him unique in the animal kingdom. That was the beginning of the long journey into the labyrinth of knowledge. This work is an effort to understand, through unbiased investigation, just one step on just one of the pathways of that hitherto unraveled labyrinth; the pathway known as Jainism.

Although, compared to Buddhism, Christianity, Hindu ism, and Islam, Jainism has a small number of followers; it commands pride of a place amongst philosophies. It has a tradition of candid and original thinkers and a vast store of literature, covering a wide range of subjects.

We are living in a paradoxical situation. While on the one hand, modern civilization is characterized by a concern for fellow human beings, on the other, the foremost problem of our age is growing violence, both in thought and action. A child in Europe may have sympathy and extend help to one of his ilk in Africa who may not have adequate food to eat or medicine to save his body against disease. As never before, has this spirit of compassion permeated state policies and the result is that we have so many enlightened welfare states in the world in which the poor and weak are taken care of at public expense. There are many international organizations as well which are equally concerned and are making signify cant contribution in arousing conscience as also directly alleviating human misery and suffering. But juxtaposed is the spread of violence at individual, national and international levels, on scales, which are unprecedented. The crime rate has increased many-fold because of growing greed, intolerance, other undesirable and unchecked propensities, and ready availability of sophisticated weapons. Indeed, in some countries, holding firearms is a fundamental right of citizens. Terrorism is becoming common and respectable.

**Contents and Sample Pages**