Essay #1

Calleigh Fife

On the battlefield, Lord Krishna urges the warrior Arjuna to rise up and take arms against the

usurping forces of the Kauravas. So is the situation put forth in the famous Indian epic, the

Bhagavad Gita. In the Acharanga Sutra, Prince Mahavira renounces all worldly attachment

and devotes the rest of his life to non-violent asceticism. Had the situation been different,

how would Mahavira, the twenty-fourth Tirthankara of Jainism counsel Arjuna in regard to

dharma on the battlefield compared to Sri Krishna? A Jain would have advised inaction on

the battlefield while a Hindu would advise action in the form of a necessary evil.

As a member of the warrior class, Arjuna’s dharma is to protect his country even unto death.

However, it becomes complicated when Arjuna is forced to fight the very people he was

meant to protect. He is overcome with emotion and he asks Krishna how he could ever hope

to be liberated from samara. Such actions of violence against his kinsmen would surely incur

an unimaginable amount of bad karma. In response, Krishna explains that to grieve in such a

way is to deny that the mortal body is but a temporal garment in which the immortal

indestructible Self resides. “The body is mortal, but that which dwells in the body is immortal

and immeasurable… One believes he is the slayer, another believes he is slain. Both are

ignorant” (The Bhagavad Gita 2:18-19). Krishna explains that each living thing has its own

dharma, and that no greater potential can be found in mortality than they would be in

pursuing their dharmic duties (Easwaran). Arjuna makes the mistake of being too attached to

the potential outcomes of fulfilling his dharma. The same mistake is made by a person going

into battle filled with lust. Krishna says, “Considering your dharma, you should not vacillate.

For a warrior, nothing is higher than a war against evil… But if you do not participate in this
battle against evil, you will incur sin, violating your dharma and your honor… Engage in this

great battle and you will be freed from sin.” (The Bhagavad Gita 2:31,33,38). The Hindu

stance is therefore that violence is acceptable when it is required of one's dharma and is don

so free of attachment to the outcome.

Dharma is described in Jainism as true nature of an object or living thing. To follow one's

dharma is to pursue one's true course and purify the spirit as exemplified by the twenty-four

Tirthankaras. As advocated by Mahavira, a life of asceticism and ahimsa is the most

important dharma of all human beings. “Those, who under delusion, destroying Dharma

enjoy sense-pleasures are sinful, for they take the fruit (after) cutting down the tree at its

root.” (Tirthankara Mahavira 9:150) It is the goal of a Jain not only to avoid negative karma

but to avoid accumulating karma of any kind. The term ahimsa, or non-violence, is almost

inseparable from dharma (Lakhani). The Jain saying “ahimsā paramo dharma” meaning

“non-injury is the highest religion”, suggests that there is no greater means of achieving

enlightenment than by living a strictly non-violent life. “All breathing, existing, living,

sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormented,

nor driven away.” (Acharanga Sutra, 1/4/1) Even in death, a devout Jain is to exit the world

doing as little harm as possible. Mahavira, naked and in the face of harsh words and vicious

attacks, refused to abandon his dharma. He refused to fight those who sought to bring him

harm as doing so would only guarantee his eternal imprisonment in samsara (Fieser).

Krishna’s appeal to Arjuna to fight can be seen as a justification of violence. Such a

justification can only be made with the pre-existing assumption that strictly good and bad

entities exist in the world. It becomes apparent to Arjuna, having been convinced by Krishna,

that in order to prevent evil from taking over his country, violence in the form of dharma is

required.
In the Jain perspective, life is considered more intertwined, and such a line as good beings

and evil beings cannot truly be drawn. Actions on the other hand can be categorized as such,

and violence is regarded as the ultimate form of evil. Initially, it could be argued that Arjuna

takes on a Jain perspective. He makes the personal decision of inaction in the face of

accumulating, what he believes, to be a great deal of bad karma. Violence is viewed as

inexcusable by Jains and even Krishna’s claim that no evil can be done when directed by the

gods, is not accepted. In the Jain version of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna is not regarded as a

god, but rather a man capable of the best and worst actions. Neminatha, the twenty-second

Tirthankara, is said by Jains to have taught Krishna the knowledge that he shared with

Arjuna. Krishna is blamed by the Jain Mahabharata for not averting the Kurukshetra War and

as a result of his action was cursed (Mehta). Jains do not believe in a deity of which to direct

their deeds towards. Rather, they seek to emulate mortal beings who have in the past

followed the tenets of Jainism to the point on enlightenment. With this knowledge, it is

understandable why the two faiths view violence differently. Had Mahavira been counselling

Arjuna on the battlefield instead of Krishna, he would have accepted Arjuna’s first reaction.

Inaction would be the correct and virtuous decision, as to lay down his arms and to suffer

through the wrath of his enemy would no doubt allow him to achieve moksha upon death.

Krishna would view inaction as shying away from one's duties, which in Hinduism is evil.

To the Jain and to the Hindu, pursuing dharma can be described as trying to understand the

human condition and to resolve it. A great amount of debate abounds amongst the Jain and

Hindu scholars as to the interpretations of the Bhagavad Gita. Although both faiths are very

similar in origins, many of their differences are philosophically quite complex. Although it is

clear that if Arjuna had Mahavira at his side in the battlefield, the dharma of a warrior would

be rejected in exchange for ahimsa.

References:

Eknath, Easwaran. The Bhagavad Gita. Nilgiri Press, 2007.

“Mahavratas.” Internet Sacred Text Archive, Jain Study Center of North Carolina, 1993,
www.sacred-texts.com/jai/5vows.txt.

Fieser, James, and John Powers. Scriptures of the Worlds Religions: Custom Edition Eastern
Religions. McGraw-Hill Education, 2018.

Lakhani, Jay, director. Jain and Hindu Dharma. YouTube, Hindu Academy, 20 Apr. 2014,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvbJiq_hEaA.

Mehta, Shyam. Shrimad Bhagavad Gita – A Jain Perspective. Lulu Enterprises Incorporated,
2010, tumehta.com, tumehta.com/?page_id=317.

Tirthankara Mahavira . Atmanushashan , Jain Mitra Mandala , 1975,

archive.org/stream/dli.bengal.10689.12541/10689.12541_djvu.txt.