of all the same law still holds: 'Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. ... He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.'[1]
But the golden chain that binds us all into one loving whole is broken by cruelty, and it is here that the Jaina fail. Their belief in the duty of not killing is not in practice complemented by an equal fear of cruelty. It is surely happier for instance, for an animal to be well tended, well fed, and well cared for, and then to die swiftly and painlessly before old age and suffering come upon it, than to linger on, as one so often sees in India (even in a Jaina asylum for animals[2]), neglected, suffering, and even starving, once it has passed its prime.
Moreover, the logical outcome of the doctrine of Ahiṁsā is, as the Jaina themselves admit, a reductio ad absurdum. They must not move for fear of treading on and killing some minute insect; for the same reason they must not eat and they must not breathe. So that in order not to commit hiṁsā Jaina sometimes commit suicide, yet suicide they consider one of the wickedest of crimes.[3] It is scientifically impossible to take as a life's motto Ahiṁsā parama dharma, since it is contrary to the order of nature. To carry it out, a man ought not to be born, lest his birth should cost his mother her life; he must not continue to live when he is
- ↑ Isaiah liii. 4-6.
- ↑ These asylums or Pāñjarāpoḷa are peculiar to Jainism, and all sects of the Jaina unite in striving to acquire merit by supporting them. They are to be found in many of the large towns and villages throughout India, and house decrepit and suffering cattle, horses, donkeys, goats, &c.; even pāriah dogs are collected in special dog-carts (i.e. wheeled cages) by men armed with long iron pincers with which they can safely pick up the most savage and filthy curs. But, as far as any real kindness to animals is concerned, these institutions in their actual working leave much to be desired, however meritorious the intention of their founders may have been.
- ↑ The whole Jaina position in relation to suicide is, however, most puzzling. Apparently simple suicide is held to be a crime, but santhāro, or religious suicide, is a meritorious act.
