Notes - Week 2

Week 2 Notes

AHIMSA

To understand Ahimsa, one has to first understand what Himsa means

• Himsa -    Violence
• Ahimsa – Non-Violence.

What is Ahimsa?

•     Not to intentionally hurt any living beings or their feelings.
•     Ahimsa is the absence of evil actions, thoughts .feelings or attitude towards any living being.
•     Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture or kill any living being.

Ways of committing violence.

Ahimsa is not practiced at physical level only, it should be practiced by a combination of the following.

• 'Man'     (Mind)                  Mental Actions
• 'Vachan'(Speech)                Verbal
• 'Kaya'     (Body)                  Physical Actions.

1) Man (Violence through thoughts).
It is the most dangerous type of himsa. On average a person gets 60,000 thoughts in a day. Almost all of these thoughts are repetitions of our past/present actions.  Energy is lost in just these unnecessary thoughts.  Therefore it is very important to practice purity through our thoughts.

• Do not think evil of others.
• Do not think negatively about any other Jiv.
• Do not hurt others feelings.

All living beings irrespective of their size or shape have souls, all souls are equal, therefore it is necessary to live in peace and harmony with each other.

2) Vachan (Violence through Speech)

It is very important to control one's speech by not using harsh words e.g. talking rudely, backbiting, gossiping.

"Always think before you speak or react to anyone."

3) Kaya (Violence through one's actions).

There is life in air, water, earth , trees/plants.  Therefore we should not kill life of even the lowest form. We must have respect for life.  Not only Live and Let Live but live and help others in living.

         

It is impossible to exist without killing or injuring some of the smallest living beings as some lives are killed even when we breathe, drink water or eat food.  Therefore Jainism says that minimum killing should be our ideal. Moreover it is more serious where killing is done intentionally or through indifference.

Jainism has classified all the living beings according to their sense organs. It is more serious if life of the highest form is killed.

Hinsa is committed not only by action, speech or thought but

• 1) You may commit hinsa yourself or
• 2) You may ask someone to commit hinsa on your behalf or
• 3) You may support or praise the hinsa committed by someone.

Hence one should refrain from commiting hinsa by any of the above means.

Ahimsa can be practiced in the following ways.

• Do not kill any innocent creatures.
• Forgive.
• Promote Tolerance.
• Be Compassionate.
• Work for peace.
• Protect the Environment.
• Kindness to all living beings.
• Lead life free from addictions.
• Vigilant while cutting vegetables, cleaning houses or any other household chores.
• Do not waste water.
• Do not discriminate on the basis of caste, colour or creed etc.
• Do daily work in a just and honest way.
• Vegetarianism.

By practicing Ahimsa one can control the four inner enemies which are

Anger, Ego , Greed , Deceit.

Notes - Week 1

WEEK 1 NOTES

DHARMA

·   ·         You feel there has to be something more than the never-ending cycle of birth and death; childhood, education, career, marriage, children; eat, work, sleep. 
·         We looked at the nature of atma (soul) and realized that its true nature is just to be in eternal bliss, freed and detached from the above never-ending cycle. 
·         The dharma of atma means the way for the atma to get to that stage of eternal bliss. 
·         It is this Dharma that we have come to seek.

AIM OF JAINISM

·         Aim of Jainism is to liberate the soul from the never-ending cycle.

·         The only way to get liberation is by following the right FAITH, the right KNOWLEDGE and the right CONDUCT.

·         An ideal religion is practical, logical, not superstitious or mythical, not dogmatic, and rituals have a reason behind them.

CONCEPT OF GOD AND UNIVERSE IN JAINISM

·         In Jainism, the Universe was not created by any event or any person or any God.  It has always existed and will forever exist.

·         There is no God in Jainism who created the universe, or maintains or controls it.

·         There is no God to obey or fear or ask favours.

·         JINAS or TIRTHANKARS are worshipped not as a person God, but for their virtues (guun).  We pray that we too can practice those virtues.

·         In short, it is all up to you!

·         Jainism is all about self-effort to detach the soul from the never-ending cycle.

4 INNER ENEMIES (KASHAY)

·         The first step in Jain Dharma is to recognize our 4 inner enemies.

·         Anger (Krodh), Ego (Maan), Deceit (Maya), Greed (Lobh)

·         Anger is a result of things not happening to our expectations.

Answer lies in Detachment and Forgiveness.

·         Ego is subtle as much as blatant, manifests itself through knowledge, family, worship, austerity, and not just the obvious like power.  Recognise both, especially the subtle form of Egoism.

Antidote of Ego is Humility.

·         Deceit arises from the pressures, temptations and compromises of life.

In Truthfulness there is peace and strength.  Live a transparent life with no discrepancy in thought, speech and action.

·         Greed arises from dissatisfaction from your current state. 

Contentment is the answer.

·         Learn to be aware of these 4 inner enemies.  It is only by consciously realizing how they are affecting us in everything we do, can we make an effort to avoid them.  Awareness is the big key starting point.  These 4 inner enemies will be mentioned throughout the course so increasing your awareness of them will be crucial in appreciating the path to liberation.

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