He mows because it's the suburban custom in this country, but he also asks for forgiveness for hurting the grass and killing creeping crawling things in the ground. Mehta is a Jain, a practitioner of Jainism, a world religion that sprung from ancient India. As a Jain, he is a disciple of nonviolence. He means to take it seriously. It means not only physical, but mental nonviolence.
Killing starts with a thought, it starts with speech.
The Jain Society of Middle Tennessee will met at Gateway Baptist Church in Clarksville today to hear lectures, share food and celebrate. Mehta, who was born in India and came to this country three decades ago, is president of the area Jain organization. The Jains are a tiny presence in the Bible Belt, about 25 families in Middle Tennessee, mostly immigrants from India. The Jainism they brought with them has elements of Hinduism and Buddhism, but its stress on personal responsibility, nonviolence and other doctrines make it a faith in its own right, stretching back for millennia. Its name comes from the 24 ''jinas,'' a succession of spiritual victors or great teachers of ancient India.