Jainism a Theistic Philosophy

SR No.: 006918
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishna A Gosavi
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith
Publication Year: 2012
Total Pages: 358
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 6 MB

Page 289

JAINA VIEW OF GOD COMPARED WITH
are infinite; and each soul retains its individuality even in immortality. In Upanisad there is nothing real besides ātman, which is conceived as an impersonal pervasion identical with Brahman, the cosmic substratum. The atman in Jainism is not miniature of any universal soul as in Upanisads. In the Upanisad and Bhagavadgītā karma stands for good and bad act, while in Jainism it is subtle type matter which inflows into the soul and determines its career in the round-of-births. According to Jainism soul and God are identical or every soul is God. World is eternal without being created by anybody. But in Vedanta the soul, the world and the God are all in one, the Brahman.
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Samkhya and Jainism pre-eminently stand for atman-theory, while the Vedic religion stands for Brahman-theory. Upanisads bring these two together and achieve the unity of atman and Brahman, a triumph of monism in the history of Indian religious thought.
Yogindudeva's comment that Upanisadic Brahman has a monistic and pantheistic grandeur which we miss in Jaina conception of Paramātman, is not exactly so. The Jaina's scripture declare that Tirthankara, who are free from eighteen shortcomings, have attained liberation in their bodies, are God with body, and when body is discarded, he attains position of a Siddha (perfect one), at liberation to be God or Isvara or Paramātmā.
VII.3. (ii) Jaina View of God Compared with the Buddhism
Gautama belonged to the Sakya tribe and therefore is called Śākyamuni; and when he had proclaimed and preached a reformed religion he was called Buddha or awakened or enlightened.
Gautama explained to his disciples his new tenets: "The man who has given up the world ought not to follow- the habitual practice, on the one hand, of those things whose attraction depends upon the passion, especially of sensuality, a low and pagan way, unworthy, unprofitable and fit only for the worldly-minded; on the other hand, of asceticism which is painful, unworthy, and