Jainism and Democracy

SR No.: 001645
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Indra Chandra Shastri
Publisher: I A S S Jain Conference New Delhi
Total Pages: 184
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Religion, & society
File Size: 8 MB

Page 174

TWO PHASES OF CULTURE
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debates on metaphysical problems. They discussed merely to defeat the opponent and win the royal patronage along with popular favour. Many crucid methods were evolved to win this external victory which satisfied their false egotism. Logic was evolved to find out the truth but that also became a weapon of defeating others. The philosophical literature of the mediaeval period is a glaring example of it. In order to defeat the opponent the real point is twised without touching the real sense. It is split into ten alternatives out of which nine are mere ranglings without any relation with the school under discussion. An insignificant or the weakest point is focussed at for refutation. For example, Sankara, while refuting Jains writes that they hold liberation as the incessant flight of soul and it is attained by sitting on a hot stone. It hardly needs any mention that both of these points are without any basis. Jains also have adopted the same method.
According to Indian philosophy liberation or Moksa is the highest point of progress. But what is liberation ? It is a state where the aspirant is freed from all responsibilities and divested of all objective values. He is free from the adjective knowledge, power and happiness. He is pure consciousness and bliss which is tentamount to their abscence. The liberation of a philosopher does not differ much from that of the scientist.
In the present both religion and philosophy are confined to the satisfaction of our vanity. Every person boasts of the aniquity, royal patronage, and great history of the religion or philosophy of which he claims to be a