Key of Knowledge

SR No.: 006702
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 1919
Total Pages: 1204
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

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There remains the idea of God as a creator to be dealt with. On this point, also, it has been shown that the creation of the universe, of individual souls and of their bodies cannot be truthfully ascribed to any one. The God who creates all things, including evil, cannot possibly claim our reverence. Jainism, Vaisheshika, Nyaya, Sankhya, Vedanta and the school of thought known as the Purva Mimamsa are at one in refusing to offer homage to any one who creates unhappy beings and then claims devotion from them. The freedom of Jaina thought appears at its best in the following argument (see An Introduction to Jainism,' by N. Rangaji, p. 61):
RECONCILIATION.
"Why should I call you my God? Is it your entrance into this world accompanied by all the splendour of Indras and more, that entitles you to my homage? Is it your power to work through the sky? Do then the two classes of immunity from physical pain, etc., constitute your claim to our reverence? Are you then our God by being the founder of a religion?"
In this way a question is put about each and every attribute, till the list is exhausted, and the philosopher concludes that in a world, which is governed by the law of karma, or cause and effect, a god who declines to violate and is powerless to suspend that law, for the sake of his devotee, cannot be entitled to our reverence on any ground. Jainism also declines to believe that God is the source of all actions, because that leads to an absurdity in relation to the doctrine of punishment. To say that a thief commits theft, because he was so moved by the will of God, and, at the same time, to hold that God will punish him for the theft, cannot be considered just by any means. The
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