Jaina Philosophy and Religion

SR No.: 001604
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nyayavijay
Publisher: B L Institute of Indology
Publication Year: 1998
Total Pages: 500
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Epistemology
File Size: 12 MB

Page 425

Jaina Logic
397
causes miseries. Jñanavāda teaches us to see through the workings of Nescience, to know things as they are, and thus to destroy Nescience. On the rise of right knowledge, Nescience is destroyed, practice of truthfulness and righteousness reaches perfection, mind becomes completely purified, and pure experience or consciousness manifests itself. And peace and bliss of life depend on this pure experience or consciousness. This is the positive contribution of jñānavāda to the spiritual wisdom. The doctrine of the world-creator God describes Him as omnipotent, teaches us to cultivate devotion to Him and states explicitly that the true result of this devotion is righteous conduct, meaning thereby that without righteous conduct there can never be true devotion to God and vice versa, one without the other is impossible. On the other hand, the view that does not accept such God describes the soul itself as possessed of infinite energy by its own innate nature and propounds that it should employ its infinite energy to ward off attacks of karmas that obscure natural faculties of soul. The ancient propounders of these mutually conflicting philosophical views had only one main purpose in view in propounding them. And that purpose was to make man's life virtuous, righteous and altruistically active. Adherents of any of these views can well achieve this purpose and thereby attain their own welfare and at the same time make praiseworthy contribution to the efforts of converting this miserable world into happy, lovely, lovable and liveable one.
Let us take one more instance where the method of non-one-sidedness or synthesis is fruitfully applied. Various views have been propounded to explain the occurrence of events. They give mutually conflicting answers to the question as to what determines the happening of events. The views in point are as follows:
(1) Time (Kāla) The auspicious and inauspicious karmas that are bound with the soul due to its auspicious and inauspicious activities do not rise to give their fruits immediately when they are bound. But when they mature, they rise to give their fruits. For, karmas have to depend on Time to present their fruits. Human effort favourable to the accomplishment of the undertaken work requires some time for being fruitful or successful. One cannot have mangoes the very moment the mango-tree is planted. A steamer or car does not reach the destination as soon as it starts moving. An aeroplane does not reach the destination the moment it takes off. Though the stone