The Jain family that does not know Ahimsa

This is about a Jain family that has moved into our neighbourhood sometime back. Before getting into the details, I would like to emphasize that I am not trying to stereotype Jains based on this family – this post is just an account of what I have observed what I feel.

Strange behaviour

This is a large joint family of three married brothers along with many children. They recently moved into a newly constructed house in our neighbourhood. There is one thing very strange about them – they never socialize with the neighbours. They react in unfriendly and distasteful manner when someone tries to talk to them and also prevent their children from talking to anyone.

There is one retired gentlemen who also lives in the same area. He is very friendly and helpful to everyone. He was very upset about how someone can be like this – without even a courtesy smile to people who live around them. Some days later they started talking to the retired gentleman, but not to anyone else.

Reason for their behaviour

I don’t know the reason for their behaviour. But, I can confidently say that these people hate people belonging to other religions including Hindus. They probably make an exception for upper caste, vegetarian Hindus – the retired gentleman is a Brahmin!

One of the important principles of Jainism is Ahimsa - not harming any living being, including plants and even microbes. I cannot comprehend how people following a faith with noble principles like Ahimsa can be treating fellow human beings with such disesteem. They don’t seem to know that what they do is nothing short of hurting someone with a weapon.

It is violence

Trying to create a feeling in someone that he or she does not deserve to be respected because of his or her caste/religion is a form of violence - psychological violence. This form of violence is in no way inferior to the easily understood physical violence. Its effects can be far more serious than physical violence.

I have taken this Jain family just as an example. This kind of behaviour is prevalent in many caste/social groups in India. Sadly, we don’t have a good solution for this. People should realize their mistakes on their on and change – that is the only way as of now.

Welcome

Hi, Welcome to my blog. I am planning to do some serious posts here - probably starting from this weekend. To get an idea of what you can expect, have a look at the posts in my old blog:

Afzal Should Die
Reservations in India - Part 2 - Education
Reservations in India