An Interview with Anand Jain (Part Three)

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2016/07/22

Abstract

An interview with Anand Jain. He discusses: importance of interfaith dialogue; relationship with Hindus and Buddhists in British Columbia; relationship with Hindus and Buddhists in Canada; relationship with Hindus and Buddhists in the world; “Ahimsa, Aparigraha, and Anekant”; the grounding of the manifestation; Five mahavatras and influence on daily life; Digambras and Svetambras; origination of their division; purpose for monks and nuns in Jainism; and salvation with end result of zero Karma.

Keywords: Anand Jain, British Columbia, Founder, Jain, Preserver, Sustainer.

An Interview with Anand Jain: Founder, and “Preserver and Sustainer.” Jain Centre of British Columbia (Part Three)^[1],[2],[3]

*Footnotes throughout the interview and citation style listing after the interview.*

16. What importance comes from interfaith dialogue?^[4]

It shows how other religions think about us, other faiths think about us. It is great to shun all of our differences and discuss things – how we can give to the society. And I think this is one way we can mutually get education, and I am the only one that always goes to these events.

I do not deny that it is not easy to take out time, but somehow I look for them, you know.

In this library right here [Simon Fraser University Surrey Campus Library – Scott], I think twice there was a big interfaith conference. I was invited once by the Bahá’í faith. It is a good thing if we can dispel some of the misgivings.

It is enlightening to note that Jainism has always taught to respect the views of other religions. A very amicable relationship exists with both Hindus and the Buddhists.

17.  Jainism exists, in history and in the present, alongside other Indian philosophies and life practices, or religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism.^{[5],[6],[7],[8],[9],[10],[11]} What relationship exists among the Hindus and Buddhists of British Columbia?^{[12],[13],[14],[15],[16],[17],[18]}

It is not common knowledge that Buddha was a Jain monk for 7 years before devising a middle path for himself called Buddhism.

It is not common knowledge that lineage of most of the Hindu Gods and Jain Tirthankaras are the same. Both share the same family inception and culturally there is hardly a difference.

It is not common knowledge that Hindus and Jains do have interfaith marriages, because our culture is similar. And why not? Like, before and now, people do like to – everybody has their own differences. Even a brother or another have a different ideology, but that does not mean you can sit together and eat, on the other hand, we have an advantage because other religions have learned non-violence and vegetarianism from the Jains. Come to think of it, one of the Hindu universities’ chancellor’s once said that to become a good Hindu you have to be a Jain first.

We wish we all continue to do the same. Only then we can make this world a beautiful place to live other than you can see now, or done 15 years ago.

I wrote a poem in Hindi, and I predicted that the culprit or the perpetrator would survive, and you could see a few years after what happened. So those are the thoughts.

18.  What about Canada?^{[19],[20],[21],[22],[23],[24],[25]}

It is very amicable, the relationship, in Canada.

19. . How about the world?^{[26],[27],[28],[29],[30],[31],[32]}

It is a very amicable, the relationship, in the whole world.

20. What does each principle of “Ahimsa, Aparigraha, and Anekant” mean to the Jain community – in British Columbia and its global manifestation?^{[33],[34],[35],[36]}

Ahimsa is non-injury to any being by way of thoughts, speech and actions. Aparigraha simply means limit your needs, your possessions, let it be available for others, and keep only what you need.

If you keep it to yourself, it will degenerate itself, it will go moldy, or go out of fashion, so why do you need to hold it? Let go, you will have better sleep. That’s how our saints live. They do not even have clothes or bowls. They make a bowl by clutching their two hands together, and they take food once in 24 hours, and he thinks a person in a black jacket and blonde hair (referring to me – Scott) should meet him and then he should eat.

Anekant means tolerance of all kinds of views of all kinds of faiths. Never say that you are the one who is always right. Different people think differently, so we should not be criticizing them and this is not one. Truth is not one-sided, and you are not the contender that I am the only one. Others are, and there are many ways to look at it. It is very intricate. There are seven sides that you have to apply on all subjects, and only then do you come to the truth. Anekant is about multiple states, multiple views.

Non-violence, non-possession. Jainism also says there are the same rules with the saints. The ones who are away from the worldly life have stern rules. And then the household owners can then devolve them to their own level, and then they can increase them to their own level in degrees. So those are the three explanations that are important for those things.

21. What grounds these principles?^{[37],[38],[39],[40]}

Since religion in Jainism is a way of life, a rational belief system; a yearning desire for salvation, these principles guide our total behaviour.

One must understand that Jainism is the only religion that is not organized.

22. Five mahavatras, or great vows, exist in Jainism: ahimsa or non-violence – the supreme principle, “non-attachment to possessions, not lying, not stealing, and sexual restraint.”^[41],[42] Duly note, the emphasis on restraint in contrast with aid, or encouragement, with the prefix “non-.”^[43],[44] How do these influence daily, mundane, life for a Jain?^[45],[46]

No doubt that a child and adolescent would only observe and imitate what the parents and the community members do in daily life. Accordingly, these five principles are very dead to all Jains.

The degree of understanding them well depends upon one’s knowledge of the religion. Age factor has nothing to do with it.

Once again, knowledge of the principles and how much importance a Jain grants to them depends on person to person and their situations, conditions and guidance. Modern day to day life is so mechanical that one has little time to fully practice these five principles. Never the less a Jain would think of these five principles before violating them grossly.

23. What divides the Digambras, the “sky clad,” and Svetambras, the “white clad”?^[47]

Skyclads follow the attire and way of life as it was dictated by all the twenty-four Tirthankaras even until three hundred years after the last seer in 300 BC. Digambras or Skyclads have always followed the original path and are still following it in India ever since.

24. Where did this division originate?^[48]

The Whiteclads or Swatambers came about after 300 BC when a 12 year famine in the province of Magadh (present day State of Bihar) was predicted by a Skyclad monk who advised the followers to go south to survive…

But, some were adamant to stay in Magadh during the famine and had to change themselves according to the calamities of the day. They adopted and amended different principles.

25. What purpose comes from the existence of monks and nuns in Jainism?^[49],[50]

Monks and Nuns have a dual purpose in Jainism. Firstly, they want to be in the front of the line for salvation by fully practising the principles of Jainism called Mahavratas.

Second purpose is that they are real examples for the layman in the Jain community.

Frankly, they are the greatest source of encouragement and guidance. They the upholders of the Jain religion without having any authoritative behaviour.

26. According to About (2015), it states:

Jainism is the one of the most ancient religions of India teaching non-violence, peaceful co-existence, a disciplined lifestyle, and limiting possession. It teaches not to hurt any soul by thoughts, speech, and actions. Thus, no injury to all beings, including our ecosystem. It precisely elaborates the route to salvation by reducing all Karmas to zero.^[51]

How does the Jain tradition define “salvation” and its end result in zero Karma?^[52],[53]

An intensive practice of Jain principles, denying one’s body of pleasure and pain; fasting for long times; walking on foot, controlling even the subtle greed, anger, passions and possessions one reduces Karmas to zero and thus is closer to salvation.

Salvation, according to Jainism, is only possible after shedding all Karmas. Salvation is an eternal abode where the soul remains with it’s own individual identity and possess all virtuous qualities of a liberated soul. This is an abode where the soul does not have to travel to different places and is not subjected to the vagaries and sufferings of Birth, old age and death. The soul ceases the cycle of birth and death.

One must know that Jainism is not one the ancient religions of India. It is the only ancient religion of India. Others are imports into the country. So-called Hinduism based on the Vedas are imports.

Of the Aryans who arrived from the North East.

It is said that in the scriptures that you cannot get Salvation in this world. You cannot get ther because the time there is eternal. We have divided time into six-fold time, and we are in the fifth, which is bad, and the sixth will be horrible, and the fourth was good. Always, the fourth time prevails. So, from there, we have to do penance there. It does not matter if you do it there or here, you cannot have Salvation with penance, and no one is spared – even the Tarthinkars were not spared.

Appendix I: Footnotes

[1] Founder, and “Preserver and Sustainer.” Jain Centre of British Columbia.

[2] Individual Publication Date: July 22, 2016 at www.in-sightjournal.com; Full Issue Publication Date: September 1, 2016 at https://in-sightjournal.com/insight-issues/.

[3] Photograph courtesy of Anand Jain.

[4] Jain Center of British Columbia. (2015). About. Retrieved from http://jaincenterbc.org/about/.

[5] In Hinduism (2015), it, in part, states:

Hinduism, major world religion originating on the Indian subcontinent and comprising several and varied systems of philosophy, belief, and ritual. Although the name Hinduism is relatively new, having been coined by British writers in the first decades of the 19th century, it refers to a rich cumulative tradition of texts and practices, some of which date to the 2nd millennium bce or possibly earlier. If the Indus valley civilization(3rd–2nd millennium bce) was the earliest source of these traditions, as some scholars hold, then Hinduism is the oldest living religion on Earth. Its many sacredtexts in Sanskritand vernacular languages served as a vehicle for spreading the religion to other parts of the world, though ritualand the visual and performing arts also played a significant role in its transmission. From about the 4th century ce, Hinduism had a dominant presence in Southeast Asia, one that would last for more than 1,000 years.

Hinduism. (2015). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/topic/Hinduism.

[6] Indus civilization. (2015). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/topic/Indus-civilization.

[7] Sanskrit language. (2015). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/topic/Sanskrit-language.

[8] Southeast Asia. (2015). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/place/Southeast-Asia.

[9] In Buddhism (2015), it, in part, states:

Buddhism, religion and philosophy that developed from the teachings of the Buddha(Sanskrit: “awakened one”), a teacher who lived in northern India between the mid-6th and the mid-4th centuriesbce (before the Common Era or Christian era). Spreading from Indiato Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, Buddhism has played a central role in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of Asia, and during the 20th century it spread to the West.

Buddhism. (2015). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhism.

[10] Buddha. (2015). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/biography/Buddha-founder-of-Buddhism.

[11] India. (2015). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/place/India.

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