What is Jainism

SR No.: 006714
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Champat Rai Jain
Total Pages: 210
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 11 MB

Page 17

WHAT IS JAINISM
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animal is the thinking capacity, which the former is endowed with and may develop to perfection and from which the latter is largely debarred. Hence, while an animal has little or no chance of bettering its condition in its present form, man may and ought to avail himself of the opportunity, if he would avoid pain and suffering here and hereafter. The civilization which enables him to do so speedily is the only form of culture of which Reason can approve, not the civilization which invites him to the fold of sensualism, but another, though less repulsive, name for animalism. The one most prominent feature of the modern civilization is the cost of living which is going up from day to day and which entails the devotion of whole-time labour for the procuring of the means of livelihood and those other things which are necessary to enable one to be counted as a somebody "in society. This leaves no time for spiritual unfoldment, which itself demands the withdrawal of the outgoing energy and its inner concentration for the destruction of the karmic bonds.
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The civilization of the ancients, on the contrary, never lost sight of the necessity for the spiritual evolution of the soul, and made the cost of living so cheap that every one could procure the necessaries of life without much trouble or labour, utilising every moment of valuable time for devotion to God, i.e., the Ideal of Perfection and Bliss.
Jainism prescribes two kinds of rules of conduct for the souls which aspire to attain salvation, those becoming a muni (an ascetic) and those suitable for the <ravaka, the householder. The former's rigidity is well calculated to lead to emancipation in the course of one earth-life, but the latter are meant for the guidance of the souls not sufficiently advanced to undertake the arduous and austere vows of the muni. Hence the effect of the influence of Jainism on modern civilization does not mean the destruction of its useful institutions at all, but only the elimination of such of them as actually play havoc with the spiritual aspirations of the soul and lead it to undesirable regions and unhappy incarnations in the future.
In conclusion, the reader is invited to study the teaching of Jainism in a scientific way, and if he will only bear in mind the nature of the great Ideal of the soul, he will not be long in discovering for himself that Jainism is the science of liberation par excellence.