Introduction to Jainism

SR No.: 006919
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Rudi Jansma, Sneh Rani Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy
Publication Year: 2006
Total Pages: 256
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 5 MB

Page 83

KARMA
81
But what is justice? The law of karma means that no event can take place without a cause, and that unharmonious causes lead to unpleasant results. But is it a punishment? Certainly punishments designed by human beings, either out of pure revenge or as the formalized justice of our legal system, can hardly be regarded as divine. All religions teach compassion and forgivingness, but our legal system in many cases remains unresponsive, unless the hardships inflicted on those convicted are meant to better their inner being, to promote inner growth so they may reach a stage where they will never commit the crime again – not out of fear of legal punishment, but from awakened insight. Such is the way divine justice works: it always seeks the best for the soul, the part of us which does not perish at death but continues to grow incarnation after incarnation, each time facing the effects of previous causes.
Though karma often does not appear merciful to us, it is the most compassionate and effective way to restore balance and teach the soul. Disease is one of the strongest motivations to begin asking questions about the deeper meaning of life. In our suffering we can sometimes experience that there exist deeper layers of happiness than what we thus far had called “happy.” However painful to the individual, karma is the greatest aid in clearing the way for the self-directed evolution which leads to the open spaces of freedom, and finally makes of man a god. Man has made mistakes because he has not always followed the highest voice within him, thus causing suffering to others and to himself. But he has never been left without sufficient light to show the way: there is the voice of conscience; there are the results of right and wrong action as lessons for the future; there is mind to interpret these, and free will to choose.
Karma is too often emphasized as something “bad,” but even when unpleasant circumstances occur, we owe the fact that we are still happy and healthy in many other respects to karma as well. Despite misfortune, we may simultaneously