On 17 April 2026, the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome hosted a one-day study session titled “Nonviolence in Times of War: Meaning and Challenges.” The event brought together scholars, faith leaders, and practitioners to reflect on the meaning, limits, and responsibilities of nonviolence in a world marked by conflict and systemic violence. The programme was organised with the involvement of the Gregorian Centre for Interreligious Studies, Pax Christi International, the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence, Magis Foundation, and the Institute of Jainology.
The day was divided into two sessions. The morning session, held by invitation only, opened with greetings from Prof. Ambrogio Bongiovanni, Dr Nicolás Paz, and Dr Mehool H. Sanghrajka MBE, Managing Trustee of the Institute of Jainology. Speakers included Msgr. Michael Santiago of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, Dr Nicolás Paz, Dr Paola Pizzi, and Dr Sanghrajka. The afternoon public session continued the discussion with contributions from Prof. Pasquale Ferrara, Prof. Nikita Dhawan, Prof. Tom Woerner-Powell, and Prof. Wolfgang Palaver.
Dr Mehool Sanghrajka spoke on “Understanding Nonviolence Through the Eyes of the Religion of its Origin.” His paper examined the Jain understanding of ahiṃsā, or nonviolence, not simply as the refusal to harm, but as an active ethical discipline rooted in awareness, restraint, compassion, and responsibility.
In his address, Dr Sanghrajka explained that Jainism offers one of the most rigorous and developed accounts of nonviolence in world religious thought. He began by challenging the common assumption that nonviolence means passivity, withdrawal, or inaction. In the Jain tradition, he argued, ahiṃsā is not passive pacifism. It is a demanding way of life that requires vigilance in thought, speech, and action.
A central theme of the speech was the Jain definition of violence. Dr Sanghrajka noted that modern discourse often identifies violence mainly with physical force or bodily harm. Jain ethics, however, takes a wider view. Violence is not only an external act; it can also be present in states of mind shaped by anger, pride, greed, attachment, fear, ignorance, or carelessness. Mental violence, verbal violence, and physical violence are all ethically significant because each can bind the soul and perpetuate suffering.
Drawing on Jain canonical texts such as the Ācārāṅga Sūtra and the Tattvārtha Sūtra, Dr Sanghrajka described how Jainism understands all living beings as worthy of respect. The Jain aphorism parasparopagraho jīvānām — living beings exist in mutual interdependence — was presented as a foundational insight for understanding why harm to others is also harm to the relational fabric of life itself.
He also explained the important distinction between monastic and lay ethics. Jain monks and nuns pursue the most uncompromising form of nonviolence, extending restraint even to the smallest forms of life. Laypeople, by contrast, live within social, economic, and family responsibilities where some harm may be unavoidable. Yet this does not weaken the principle of ahiṃsā. Instead, it creates a graduated ethic of responsibility, where actions are assessed by intention, awareness, proportionality, necessity, and restraint.
For contemporary debates on war and conflict, Dr Sanghrajka suggested that Jainism does not offer a simple political formula or a doctrine of just war. Its contribution is different and profound: it asks how violence becomes normalised in the first place. Long before violence appears as conflict, it may already have taken root in fear, identity, ego, possessiveness, indifference, or moral carelessness. Jain nonviolence therefore calls for preventative responsibility — the transformation of the inner conditions that make harm appear necessary or justified.
The address concluded by presenting ahiṃsā as a discipline of ethical self-formation. Nonviolence, in the Jain view, is not primarily a strategy, slogan, or political instrument. It is a continuous practice of becoming more aware, more restrained, and more compassionate in an interdependent world. In times of war and systemic violence, this perspective challenges individuals and societies to ask not only what actions are justified, but what kinds of persons and communities they are becoming.
The Institute of Jainology was honoured to contribute to this important interreligious conversation. By bringing the Jain perspective on ahiṃsā to a global forum in Rome, Dr Sanghrajka helped underline the continuing relevance of Jain thought to urgent questions of peace, responsibility, coexistence, and the ethical challenges of our time.
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