JAINISM

JAINISM

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Jainas believe that there have been twentythree religious teachers prior to Mahavira who have contributed to the foundation and development of jaina religion. These religious teachers are known in Jainism as tirthankara ( perfect soul) or jin ( conqueor or victor of passions). Mahavira like a buddha, was a kshtriya by birth and was an elder contemporary of the latter. mahavira prached a non-theistic religion of moral purity and excellence in which man was at the centre and the main aim was to liberate man out of the chain of karma and rebirth in which he was fallen.

Jainism did not prove to be a missionary religion like Buddhism therefore it remained confined to india alone. However these days certain jaina believers have become active in giving a new life to their religion by publishing literature all over the world and distributing it among people. It is the basic features of Jainism as a religion. There are as below..

1.      It is an atheistic religion believing in no creator god behind the world.

2.      It is a religion of moral and spiritual purity aiming at the elevation of man to the state of perfection and godhood.

3.      Jainism takes the world as perfectly real with all its plural beings.

4.      Man has got an eternal conscious substance within him known as the jiva ( soul).

5.      Jainism believes in a life after death which is either in the form of rebirth, the transmigration of the soul form the old body to a new one or moksha.  Moksha is the final liberation of the soul from the chain of birth and rebirth.

6.      Jainism believes that present state of man is the state of bondage which is due to his own past karmas.

7.      Man suffers due to his own karmas and there is no other explanation of human suffering.

8.      Liberation can be attained not by offering rituals to gods and goddesses but by following the path of three jewels right faith, right knowledge and right conduct.

9.      Jainism lays utmost on the value of moral conduct under which ahimsa is the most emphasized virtue.

10.   Jainism much extolls the life of a monk or celebrate who has renounced everything and is engaged in spiritual elevation by following a path of rigorous moral and spiritual discipline.

Jainsm does not believe in any creator God, it rather explicity rejects the existence of any such being. lord Mahavira is treated more or less, as God by the jains. There are jaina temples at many places with the statue of mahavira inside then and the jains pay their devotion and respect to it in many ways. But then it is clear and certain that mahavira is prayed and worshipped only as a great soul as a savoiour of mankind.

It tries to explain the material world by the help of the following five substance, Dharma, adharma ( principle of rest), aksha (space), kala ( time) and pudgala ( matter). Jainism is realistic and pluralistic. It believes in the reality of the world with all the plural objects in it. Jainism takes the world as real, but counsels not to be unduly attached to it. It may be taken as a ground for performing moral actions but not as a place of sensuous enjoyments.

Man is given the highest status in Jainism. There is no god in the ordinary sense of the term but if the word God has any meaning it is applicable to man himself. Man is perfect. He is capable of attaining infinitude absolute perfection. He has a soul within him which is imbued with infinite potentialities. This soul in man is capable of attaining infinite power infinite knowledge, infinite faith, infinite bliss, because potentially, it is capable of attaining godhood.

Jaina approach to the problem of evil and suffering is practical. Being a non-atheistic system, it does not have any occasion to tackle the problem in a fashion in which it is raised and answered in the context of semitic religions. Jaina explained man suffers due to his own past karmas. Life in the world is a consequence of one’s past karmas and in a broad sense coming to life in the world. It self is suffering but in a sense, life in the world may be distinguished between a happy life and a miserable one. Both are respectively due to the good and bad actions performed by someone in his past life.

The jaina view about life after death is similar with Hinduism. Man has an immortal soul within him which does not die with physical death. After the death of the physical body the soul transmigrates into a new body.

 The ultimate destiny of man according to Jainism is moksha or kaivlay. As bondage is the association of the soul with matter, quite naturally monksha is complete dissociation of soul from matter.  this dissociation is complete only when matter already accumulated with the soul is completely annihilated and any further influx of matter is completely checked. Moksh in the real sense is possible only when the physical body is destroyed and there is no possibility of the soul taking another body.

Jainism teaches a threefold discipline called the discipline of three jewels, following which one can get rid of bondage and attains liberation. This threefold discipline is the right faith, right knowledge and right conduct.

1.      Right faith- umaswami defines right faith as in the greatness and efficacy of knowledge.

2.      Right knowledge- the knowledge of the nature of things in the real perspective.

3.      Right conduct- only right faith or right knowledge is not sufficient for liberation. Right conduct is also necessary generally speaking right conduct is the conduct based on detachment.

Solsavratas, it is upholds the life of a celibate who renounces the world and lives a life of self-denial and purity. In accordance with the two sects in which Jainism was later on divided there are two types of jaina monks – svetambaras and digambras.

We have seen that in Jainism the virtue of non-possession and a saintly of life of self-mortification have been given much importance and value. It is on the point of an extreme or relatively moderate application and interpretation of these two that Jainism split up into secs the digambara and the svetambra. Both of the sects seem to be one in so far as the essential principles of their beliefs and practices are concerned.

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