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Jaina Religion: Its Historical Journey of Evolution 13
believer in the divine and godly powers. Man conceived different gods and thc Almighty as controllers of cosmic order and natural powers and started expecting their mercy and grace. On the contrary, nirvartaka-dharma supported passivity in practice and because of its faith in karma philosophy started believing that the individual himself is responsible for his bondage and liberation. Thus nirvartaka-dharma began to have faith in philosophy of puruşārtha or individual's own efforts. Atheism, puruşārtha, and karma philosophy became its central features. In the field of sādhanā, pravartaka-dharma evolved a philosophy of pleasing supernatural powers through rituals (karma-kāņda) yajñas and sacrifices, whereas nirvartaka -dharma emphasized self-purification and good conduct. And it considered performance of rituals for pleasing the divine powers unnecessary. Śramaņic religions and their evolutionary journey
Indian culture is a confluence of both Vedic and Śramanic streams and both have played an important role in its creation. The Vedic stream is mainly action-dominated and Sramanic stream is renunciation oriented. Present day Hinduism is representative of the Vedic stream while Jaina and Buddhist religions represent the Sramaņa stream.
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