Study of Jainism

SR No.: 001748
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T G Kalghatgi
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy
Publication Year: 1988
Total Pages: 252
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Religion, & Philosophy
File Size: 13 MB

Page 186

Tat Tvaṁ Asi
171
If I svara were to act with a purpose, he would not be perfect, that would limit his perfection. But if he were to act without a purpose his actions would be meaningless like a child's play.
There is nothing superior to the law of Karma. The sufferings of the world are intelligible only on the basis of the law of Karma. Though the Buddha admits the existence of the gods like Indra and Varuna, they are also involved in the wheel of Samsara.
We have, so far, seen that the Jainas, as also the Buddhists, were against the theistic conception of God. God as a creator is not necessary to explain the universe. We have not to seek God there in the world outside, nor is God to be found 'in the dark lonely corner of a temple with doors all shut'. He is there within us. He is there with the tiller tilling the hard ground and the 'pathmaker breaking stones', in the sense that each individual soul is to be considered as God, as he is essentially divine in nature. Each soul when it is perfect is God.
The Jainas sought the divine in man and found the essential divinity in all living being. This conception of the essential divinity of all creatures has been systematically worked by the Jaina Acaryas. Every soul is divine in its essence. It is involved in the wheel of samsara (worldly existence) due to the encrustation of karma. It has to experience and exhaust the fruits of karma. Every soul is responsible for accumulation of karma in a being. Nor can one's karma be exchanged with another man's karma. Karma cannot be compared to the pieces of money which can be exchanged. Unless we exhaust our karma we cannot find a way to salvation. No God nor any spirit will help us. No grace of God is necessary nor possible. The entanglement in the wheel of saṁsára is beginningless but it has end. The end is due to selfeffort only, by voluntary means. When all the karma is removed soul reaches its essential state of perfection. That is divinity. In this sense, we can interpret the famous dictum Tat Tvam asi (That Thou art) as the essential nature of divinity of the soul. Every self is divine. It is That; it is God.