________________
32 Jaina Religion: Its Historical journey of evolution with his non-absolutistic (anaikāntika) approach. First of all he propounded a three-fold principle of right attitude, right knowledge and right conduct, which represented a balanced combination of Jñāna-mārga, Karma-mārga and Bhakti-mārga. Thus, Mahāvīra and Jaina philosophy made the first attempt to balance and synthesize these one sided traditions of jñāna, karma, bhakti and tapas etc. Whereas the Gītā treats jñāna-yoga, karmayoga and bhakti-yoga as three different paths to liberation, Jaina religion professes an integrated approach where all the three jointly form the path of liberation
Jaina religion not only opposed the yajña related ritualistic tradition propounded by Vedic sages, but also opposed the tāpasic style of torture of body. Probably, before Mahāvīra till the time of Pārsvanātha dharma was related only to external aspects. It is because of this, the Brahmin class considered the end of dharma only in yajñas and their related rituals. Probably, Pārsvanātha emphasized internal aspects of spiritual endeavour, in place of external aspects. Consequently, in other Śramanic traditions like the Buddhist etc. also began to emphasize the inner aspects of dharma. But till the time of Mahāvīra, the emphasis on external aspects was not fully over, rather the
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
