Yugdharm Banne Ka Adhikari Kaun

Here's a comprehensive summary of the provided Jain text, "Yugdharm Banne ka Adhikari Kaun" by Bansidhar Pandit:

The text begins by painting a grim picture of the aftermath of World War II, highlighting the immense suffering caused by bombings, the destruction of cities, the devastation of small nations caught between larger powers, and the tragic loss of life. Even after the war's end, a pervasive shadow remains: the desire for revenge by defeated nations, their subjugation, and continued oppression. War criminals face either suicide or execution, while ruling parties in many nations are ruthlessly eliminating their own citizens under the guise of justice. Furthermore, countries liberated from imperial powers, based on wartime promises, are still being suppressed.

The author notes that while personal tragedies and economic losses from the war will be remembered forever, the hope for a return to peaceful life has not materialized. The legal and economic difficulties faced during the war persist, with inflation, black markets, and bribery allowing some to amass fortunes and continue their exploitative practices. The problem of unemployment is also steadily growing in every country.

This situation leads to a universal desire for measures to prevent future wars. However, the author expresses doubt that this can be achieved soon, citing the insatiable ambition of powerful nations, the continued oppression of defeated countries, and the prevalent atmosphere of mistrust and strategic maneuvering.

The text argues that if humanity is to avoid such inhuman wars, it must abandon self-serving, corrupt mindsets and tendencies that promote war, and instead move towards religiosity. It suggests that instead of suppressing defeated nations by force, victor nations should treat them with compassion and love, thereby learning to extend this compassion to all of humanity. While force can suppress war, it cannot eradicate its roots, as demonstrated by World War I, which was suppressed by force and led to the even more devastating World War II. True and lasting peace, the author posits, can only be established on the foundation of religiosity.

This leads to a crucial question: What is religion? The author observes that the world stage is filled with numerous religions like Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Islam, and Christianity, each with its own variations. The central question is whether all these can be considered religions, if only one truly qualifies, or if none of them are truly religions.

The author emphasizes the need to understand the true meaning of religion because, through these so-called religions, humanity has become divided into numerous harmful factions. These groups not only prioritize their own perceived religion above others but also label their own as "religion" and others as "irreligion." Each of these groups has confined religiosity within a specific framework. For example, Hindus associate religion with Vedic rituals like yajnas and bathing in rivers. Jains consider devotion to Tirthankaras, scripture study, and adherence to vows as religion. Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis, Muslims, and Christians define their religion through their specific rituals, prayers, and teachings. Crucially, these groups never perceive any inadequacy in their own practices. They arrogantly label their practices as "national religion" or even "world religion."

The author's conclusion is that none of the aforementioned so-called religions are truly religion, because there can only be one true religion, not multiple. The opposite of religion is irreligion; there cannot be opposition between religions. True religion, wherever it is found, will be recognized by its universal, unchanging, and eternal nature, consistently illuminating itself as the "Yugdharm" (the Dharma of the age). The author asserts that any individual, with their limited intellect, can easily discern between religion and irreligion without needing to consult extensive scriptures or seek the guidance of scholars.

True religion, according to the author, lies in:

• Internal Conduct: Refraining from anger, malicious thoughts, ego, deceit, lowliness, and greed.
• Developing Positive Qualities: Cultivating simplicity, humility, self-respect, and fostering love, compassion, and empathy towards all living beings.
• External Conduct: Practicing non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy, and non-possession at a human level, alongside equality and altruism.

This true religion, the author clarifies, cannot be bound by regional or temporal limitations, nor is it exclusive to any particular community like Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, etc. It is a religion that can be attained by any individual from any community. The author states that barriers like caste (Brahmin and Bhangi), gender (male and female), intellect (learned and ignorant), or wealth (rich and poor) are never hindrances to its attainment. Its utility is universally beneficial to human society in all circumstances.

The text observes that this true religion is collectively absent even in groups that consider themselves religious based on their respective so-called religions. Self-interest reigns supreme, leading to deceit, dishonesty, falsehood, and conflicts within families. Despite these prevalent negative traits, individuals still identify as religious. Even those engaged in criminal activities like black market dealings and bribery, or instigators of wars that decimate humanity, consider themselves religious. The author questions whether the World War was not a war between adherents of a single religion and points out that no religious society can claim to be free from individuals involved in such "demonic" practices.

The fundamental argument is that if these so-called religions, like Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Islam, and Christianity, lack true religiosity and even humanity, how can they be called religious communities, and their practices, religion? A further question arises: if they are not religions, are they entirely irreligion? And if they are irreligion, how can they be eradicated?

The author's belief is that these so-called religions are not entirely irreligion, even if they are not true religions. Instead, their refined forms should be accepted as means to attain true religion. The author proposes naming these refined forms as Hindu culture, Jain culture, Buddhist culture, Sikh culture, Zoroastrian culture, Muslim culture, and Christian culture, respectively.

Each culture, the author explains, can be divided into two parts: philosophy (तत्त्वज्ञान) and conduct (आचार). The author considers cultures, adorned with these two aspects, not as religion itself, but as means to achieve religion. The author firmly believes that by considering culture as religion, rather than a means to religion, has led to hypocrisy, harmful distortions, and rigid traditionalism within each culture. This, in turn, has fueled ego, partiality, stubbornness, mutual animosity, and hatred in individuals. The tendency to believe one's own religion and oneself as truthful and honest, while considering others' religions and others as false and dishonest, is rooted in this misconception of considering the culture that facilitates religion as religion itself. If this belief is abandoned, and culture is understood as a means to attain religion, and efforts are made to lead a religious life through it, then hypocrisy, harmful distortions, and traditionalism will undoubtedly be eradicated from every current culture. No individual adhering to any culture will fall victim to ego, partiality, stubbornness, or mutual animosity and hatred. The tendency to consider one's own religion and oneself as true and honest, while viewing others' religions and others as false and dishonest, will disappear.

In essence, every being desires happiness in their worldly life. Since humans are social animals, their lives are largely dependent on social cooperation. Therefore, until the worldly life of the collective human society becomes happy, the worldly life of the individual cannot be happy. For the worldly life of the collective human society to be happy, the author reiterates the need to bring the aforementioned internal and external religiosity into human life. It is for this purpose that great souls in their respective times have given birth to different cultures like Hinduism, Jainism, etc. All existing cultures, such as Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Zoroastrian, Muslim, and Christian, aim to make their followers religious in the aforementioned manner.

However, when culture itself is mistaken for religion, merely by worshipping a particular culture, a person is considered religious, thereby eliminating the need to cultivate religiosity in their own life. Consequently, on one hand, each culture, despite being filled with hypocrisy, various harmful distortions, and traditionalism, does not receive adequate attention from its followers for eradicating these distortions. On the other hand, while considering themselves religious and part of a truthful and universally beneficial culture, followers exhibit unchecked growth of self-serving, limitless desires and corrupt tendencies that crush humanity.

Therefore, the most pressing need today is for each cultural community and every individual within it to understand their culture not as religion itself, but as a means to religion. The outcome of this shift will be that adherents of each culture and individuals within them will strive to bring the aforementioned religiosity into their lives to prove themselves religious and their culture truthful and beneficial. The author concludes by stating that any society whose goal does not align with this will surely remain only in the pages of history.

The author believes that all current cultures are useful for human society, but Jain culture is considered particularly scientific and useful, with its philosophy and conduct being more aligned with reality. Hence, Jain culture can be made more permanent and widespread than other cultures. The author laments that if the Jain community had maintained its mental balance during World War II and had not resorted to black market practices in business with other communities, Jain culture would undoubtedly have stood at its rightful place. It is a matter of immense sorrow for those who desire the upliftment of Jain culture and a cause for shame for the entire Jain community that the business-minded Jain society has tarnished Jain culture in this manner. The author poses the question: "Is it not reasonable to hope that the Jain community will first become the society of the age to make Jain culture the religion (culture) of the age?"