In the present world, we find that violence, terrorism, conflicts,
killings of human beings etc. have increased considerably. There are also other problems of greed, intolerance, hatred and discontentment. The need is to turn this trend around, and solve these problems by taking recourse to Ahimsa. We should promote tolerance, and voluntary reduction of our wants and needs. Jainism has been propagating Ahimsa. With this approach, the conflicts would be reduced in numbers and in intensity. Ahimsa includes not only not killing, but also not hurting. If the human beings practise Ahimsa, individually and sincerely, things will definitely improve. We should accept Ahimsa as a way of life. The author is a former diplomat of Indian Foreign service, and a renowned Jain scholar. He has addressed various conferences the world over, delivering key note addresses on Ahimsa and Jain
philosophy. The present book is a compilation of several of his key note presentations and speeches, after editing, updating and elaborating. The aim is to create awareness, and to promote use of Ahimsa as a way of life, so that all persons can come together for peaceful co-existence. This book has a total of thirty Chapters in four parts. It provides several coloured photographs, stanzas in Sanskrit and Hindi, quotations from scriptures and sayings etc. Part one covers the world wide 2600 th birth anniversary celebrations of Tirthankar Mahavir (2001-02) and 2003. Part two covers the Parliament of world’s religions, Chicago 1993 and Cape Town (South Africa) 1999. Part three covers conferences of the United Nations (a) U.N. Millennium Peace Summit of religions and spiritual leaders, New York, August 2000, and (b) U.N. Earth Summit, Rio-de-Janeiro, Brazil 1992. Part four covers International Jain Conference 1988-2004.
One of the Chapters in Part four gives, details of his speech at the Jain temple in Washington D.C. (USA) July 2002, on Peace through non-violence. He talks of physical violence, violence in our thoughts and actions, especially for
environment, all living beings including the human beings, resources of the earth not being handled properly etc. Pollution is being caused substantially. Animals and birds are being killed for sport, hunting and for purposes of consumption. Human beings are not only killing other human beings physically, but also causing injury and hurting mentally. A step-by-step approach is suggested. The culture of non-violence should be developed, by promoting harmony and cooperation. While educating in schools, colleges and universities, we should cover reverence of all forms of life. Vegetarianism should be promoted in a big way. The world community should see that our communications are through non-violent, and cooperative means. It is not a simple task, but we have to make an early beginning. The book elaborates various aspects of Ahimsa, so that people everywhere can be inspired and motivated, for converting their life in the Ahimsa way, even if slowly. This will lead to general peace in the world. It is a useful book for everyone to read, ponder over, understand, implement, to rise above ourselves and our short sighted approaches, to motivate others to read and follow this way of life, so that we all can live peacefully.