Ethical Doctrines in Jainism

SR No.: 006955
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kamalchand Sogani
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 2001
Total Pages: 322
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 8 MB

Page 249

VII. THE JAINA AND THE NON-JAINA INDIAN ETHICAL DOCTRINES 227
Brahmin, and keeping company with the perpetrators as the five kinds of great sins and therefore considers them derogatory. The Prasna Upanişad opines that pure Brahman is realised by those in whom there is neither lying nor deceit nor crookedness.2 Thus the thief, the drunkard, the adulterer, the Brahmocide, the liar, the deceitful and the man who associates with them all go to ruin. According to Jainism, a pilgrim on the path of self-realisation must avoid wine, meat, honey, violence, falsehood, stealing, incontinence and acquisition. He should neither commit these sins nor incite others to commit them nor extol those perpetrating these sins. According to the Gitā, demoniac qualities cause thraldom. Ostentation, arrogance, excessive pride, anger, harshness, and ignorance—all these are demoniac qualities. To refuse to distinguish between action and renunciation, to be possessed of nonpurity, non-truth and non-conduct, to give oneself to insatiable desires, to hold wrong views through delusion, to act with impure resolves, and to be hedonistic: all these are Āsurī characteristics. 5 Again, to be covetous, to be violent, to be snared in hundreds of vain hopes, to be entangled in anger and lust, to be engaged in amassing wealth by unjust means for the gratification of desires, to regard oneself as accomplished, as lord and king of man, and as happy and strong, and to be puffed up with riches and birth-all these also come under the sweep of demoniac nature. Moreover, persons having such inclination regard the world as unreal, without basis and without God. They despise the Supreme Being which is hidden in themselves and others. The above mentioned base and sordid dispositions must needs be relinquished in the interest of higher progress. According to Jainism, all that is responsible for inauspicious Asrava is demoniac in character. Four kinds of instincts, 8 three inauspicious Leśyās, sensual indulgence, Arta and Raudra Dhyānas, improper use of knowledge, delusion and thirteen kinds of passions
1 Cha. Up. V. 10. 9. 2 Pra. Up. I. 1. 16. 3 Ratna. Srāva. 66. 4 B.G. XVI. 4. (Trans. vide RADHAKRISHNAN: The Bhagavad Gita). 5 B.G. XVI. 7, 10, 11. 6 Ibid. XVI. 12 to 15.
7 Ibid. XVI. 8, 18. 8 Ahāra (Food), Bhaya (fear), Maithuna (Sex) and Parigraha (acquisition). 9 Panca. 40. 10 Sarvātha. VII. 9. Anger (Krodha), Pride (Māna), Deceit (Māya), Greed (Lobha) Laughter, (Hasya), Love (Rati), Hatred (Arati), Grief (Soka), Fear (Bhaya), Disgust (Jugupsā), Hankering after woman (Puruşaveda), Hankering after man (Striveda) and Hankering after both the sexes (Napuņsakaveda).
2016: XVI. 4. (Trans. vb Ibid. XVI. 12 tSex) and Parigrah