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[Some Jain Concepts and Conduct
15
to religion. But without it, a religion is meaningless. The Rgveda praises faith (śraddha)13. The Chandogyopanisad asks us to be faithful.14 The Gita says that only the faithful attains knowledge. S We find a further development of this idea of faith in the Bhaktisūtra of Narada and Śāṇḍilya. In Vedānta, Rāmānujācārya held that salvation is not possible by knowledge, as held by Sankara, but by bhakti. Thus we find that the importance of faith has been impressed throughout the history of Indian culture. The essence of a religion is determined by the nature of the faith uphold in it. The moral code of a religion is necessarily based on the nature of the faith propounded there. The mental and moral discipline prescribed for a layman, Śrāvaka in Jainism is inspired by the criterion of faith noted above. The firmness of a Śravaka's belief is indicated by the following eight qualities :
1.
2.
Niśśankita (Absence of doubt about scriptures) Niḥkänkṣita (having no desire for the worldly pleasures)
Nirvicikitsa (absence of doubt about the attainments of spiritual path).
4.
Amudhadrsti (no confusion about the ideal)
5. Upabṛmhana (Augmenting the spiritual qualities)."? Sthirikaraṇa (Re-establishing those who deviate from truth)
6.
Vatsalya (Sense of brotherhoods towards the followers of the right path)
Prabhavana (Preaching he importance of truth)
3.
7.
8.
It would be observed here that the first five characteristics pertain to the individual life of the aspirant whereas the last three pertain to the social aspect of religion.
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