Religion and Culture of the Jains

SR No.: 002009
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jyoti Prasad Jain
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith
Publication Year: 1999
Total Pages: 258
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Religion, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

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RELIGION & CULTURE OF THE JAINS
the pre-Aryan, so-called Dravidian period, and that Jainism is the oldest of all Dravidian-born philosophies and religions.' He also psyhcologically demonstrated that Jaina Yoga originated in pre-Aryan India, and has nothing to do with orthodox Brahmanism which simply appropriated it in later centuries. Noel Retting, another Indologist, writes, " Only in Jainism, of all the living religions, do we see a fusion of the primitive with the profound. It has preserved elements from that first stage aof man's religious awarencess, animism. It affirms the separateness of spirit from matter, even though our modern philosophers and religionists regard any form of dualism as untenable. Despite the opinion of these men, Jainism is fundamentattly scientific, And , it may very well be, contrary to the opinions of many anthropologists and studnets of comparative relgion, the oldest living faith." And, professor L.P. Tessitori is of opinion that "Jainism is of a very high order. Its important teachings are based upon science. The more the scientific knowledge advances the more the Jaina teachings will be proved." In fact, the Jaina system of thought is so wonderfully consistent with modern realism and science that one may easily be tempted to question its antiquity, about which, however, there is now no doubt. Moreover, as Dr. Walthur Schubring observes, "He who has a thorough knowledge of the structure of the world cannot but admire the inward logic and harmony of Jain ideas. Hand in hand with the refined cosmographical ideas goes a high standard of astronomy and mathematics." Dr. Harmann Jacobi also believes that "Jainism goes back to a very early period, and to primitive currents of religious and metaphysical speculation, which gave rise to the oldest Indian philosophies. They (the Jainas) seem to have worked out their system from the most primitive nations about matter." One of the fundamental as well as primitive ideas on which Jaina metaphisics is based is oftern described as animism,