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

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JAINISM: A THEISTIC PHILOSOPHY "GOD IN JAINISM"
In the dialogues of the Buddha and some later Buddhist works, the nastikas are said to be persons not believing in the doctrine of karma and transmigration."The Lokāyats or Cārvākas have been condemned by Buddha for not believing in the retribution of the karma and consequent future birth. Significantly, the word paraloka has been used in the context-denoting abode of life after death.
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Kumārila Bhatta" has used the term ästikya and nāstikya as denoting two opposite views meaning thereby that the nastika did not believe in the existence of soul whereas the astika believe in it. In another verse he has placed nastika in the category of those who perish owing to their non-belief in the fruitfulness of the rites prescribed by the śrutis and smṛtis. According to Samkarācārya" āstika is one who believes that the meanings enshrined in agamas are ultimate truth.
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The oft-quoted references of the Buddhist and Jaina literature about the thinkers of sixth century B.C. clearly show that a number of schools of thought were current which opposed the Vedic philosophy and presented their alternative system. As they were dissenters and non-believers who rejected the Vedic view of life, it may be summarized that they were the first to be dubbed as nãstikas. Panini's two categories of astika and nastika may, thus, be interpreted as the former being the category of those people who believed and endorsed the Vedic view of life while the latter as the category of those who dissented and rejected it.
The point of the astika-nastika dichotomy is rendered complicated by the evidence furnished by the commentaries of Patanjali and Kaśikā, the dialogues of Buddha (Majjhima Nikaya) and some later works where the astika is connected with the belief in the paraloka and the nastika with the non-belief in it. As such Jaina,
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Majjhima-nikāya, 2.2.10, Trans. Rahul Sankrityayan, 2nd edition,
P-142
57 Ślokavārtika, 3.65
58 Astikyam Sraddhanata Paramarthes vagamarthesu-Samkarācārya