The man who longs for
the joy of Gods must prepare himself for the practicing of absolute
Ahimsa
by a steady course of training. He should begin with abstaining from
causing unnecessary injury to all kinds of beings having more than one
sense. With respect to the evolution of sense, living beings all under the
following five classes:--
(1) One-sensed beings who
possess only the sense of touch, such as vegetables;
(2) Two-sensed beings,
i.e., those which possess touch and taste both, such as protozoa and
certain varieties of shell-fish;
(3) Three-sensed beings,
who also enjoy the sense of smell in addition to touch and taste, such as
lice, bugs and ants;
(4) Four-sensed beings who
are endowed with all the senses except hearing, and
(5) Five-sensed beings.
In addition to their
appropriate or specific senses, all living beings possess three kinds of
forces of life, namely
Ayuh,
bodily strength and the power of breathing. The power of communicating
with others, which in the higher grades of life assumes the form of
speech, is enjoyed by the two-sensed and other higher types, while mind is
a distinguishing feature of the five-sensed type alone, though all
Jivas
belonging to that class are not endowed with it. These ten kinds of
forces-- five senses, Ayuh,
bodily strength, breathing, speech and mind-- are called the ten
pranas.
Now, all five kinds
of living beings are souls capable of feeling pain though not always in
anticipation of injury, for that kind of pain is felt only by those of the
fifth class who evolve out a mind -- men, monkeys, dogs and the like. All
kinds of living beings, however possess the
Karma
and the taijasa
Shareers
whose separation from the body of gross matter is called death --a painful
process at all times, and more so when the bodies are separated by force
of external violence. Pain is also felt by all kinds of living beings when
their limbs are cut, pierced, torn asunder or otherwise mutilated.
Hinsa
is the causing of pain to another and includes all kinds of acts
calculated to interfere with one's enjoyment of life or freedom in respect
of one's pranas.
The following table
will enable the reader to form a general idea of its main types at a
glance:--
Hinsa
|
----------------------------------------------------
|
|
injuring one-sensed
beings
injuring the remaining types of living beings
(B)
|
---------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
deliberate
accidental
|
________________________
|
|
due to
carelessness
implied in the struggle for
(C)
existence
(D)
Deliberate
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
necessary (E)
Wanton (F)
__________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
in defiance of
for the main-
in the treat-
in the em-
(i) body,
tenance of
ment of
ployment of
(ii) property
law and
wounds etc.
men and
and
order.
animals for
(iii) country.
the purposes
of trade,
etc., etc.
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= 1
|
|
|
|
|
killing for
sport
slavery
sacrifice
vivisection
food, trade,
etc.
The layman very
naturally, is not expected to avoid injuring the one-sensed beings, nor
can he refrain from all other kinds of injury except wanton cruelty. He
is, there fore required to practice
Ahimsa
in respect of class F. The Muni
is, however able to avoid injuring others in all cases falling under
classes D., E and F., and also to a great extent, under class C. The
kevali
who has conquered the twenty two forms of
parisaha
(see page 57 ante) does not cause any kind of
Hinsa,
and the same is the case with the
Siddha
who has no material impurities left in his soul.
Thus the practical
observance of the principles of
Hinsa
varies with the circumstance of each soul, so that the least advanced
begin with the renunciation of wanton cruelty, and gradually train
themselves to observe the stricter vows of a
Muni.
As personal wants and desires become limited to bare food, once a day or
so, the practicing of the higher forms of
Ahimsa
is not felt to be irksome or difficult; and finally, when the powers of
the soul are developed to perfection and complete mastery over the lower
nature is obtained, resulting in the manifestation of those subtle and
powerful forces which enable the
kevali
to defy all kinds of adverse influences -- hunger, thirst, sickness, old
age, death and the like-- the observance of absolute
Ahimsa
becomes perfectly easy and natural.
