Introducing Jainism

SR No.: 006956
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publication Year: 2002
Total Pages: 90
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

Page 19

12
INTRODUCING JAINISM
Universe was created by Brahmā (Pkt. Bambha-utte), but this is wrong:
iņam annam tu arņāņam iham egesim āhiyam/ . deva-utte ayam loe bambha-utte tti avare//64// .
"This is, indeed, ignorance of some (people) to say that this world was created (utte=uptah) by God; some say (it was) by Brahmā."
isarena kade loe pahāņāi tahāvare/ jivājīva-samāutte suha-dukkha-samaņņie//.65//
“(Some say), this world was done by God, (some say), by the primordial god (pahāņāi), (this world) which is full of jiva and ajīva and their happiness and miseries."
sayambhūņā kade loe iti vuttam mahesinā/ māreņa samthuyā māyā teņa loe asāsaye //66//
"It was created by Svayambhū-is said by the great sage. That Svayambhū has also created māyā which is associated with mộtyu (death)."
māhaņa samaņā ege āha andakaļe jagel aso tattam akāsī ya ayāṇantā musam vayel/67//
"Some Brahmins and śramaņas say thus world was created from an egg (anda), that Brahmā (aso) has created all the substances (tattam), one who does not know this (ayāṇantā) tells lies."
Moreover, the conception of God as a Perfect Being is questioned. It was often asked if God were perfect, then why His creations were imperfect. If the world is the creation of a Perfect Being, how is it that there are sorrows and sufferings, and miseries and wants and iniquities in His created beings ? Whatever may be the position of God as a Perfect Being, it is an undeniable fact that there are miseries in the world. The Jains and the Buddhists went on further to emphasize that if the woes and troubles of the Creator are to be accounted for by the acts of the creators themselves, and if the creator-God could not be held responsible for them, then what is the point of accepting the outside creatorGod ? So the Jains eliminated the outside creator-God from their processes of thinking. They accepted this world as it is