Jains in India and Abroad

SR No.: 007601
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Prakash C Jain
Publisher: International Summer School for Jain Studies
Publication Year: 2011
Total Pages: 260
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 6 MB

Page 146

Therefore, a Jain must always be on his guard, apprehensive of sin. According to the author of Jaina Yoga, a Jain "works hard, conforms to conventions, obeys constituted authority, leads a frugal and unostentatious life, and carefully calculates the consequences of every step he takes. This conception of the lay life which follows logically from the dogmas of the creed is assuredly the main factor responsible for the close association, so often noted, of Jainism with the middle-class trading community. Such a conclusion is very far from the view, which falsifying the picture of its origins, regards it as tailor made for the bourgeoisie” (Williams 1963: xxii).
McClelland (1961: 369) comparing three religiously diverse minority business communities of India, i.e., Jains, Vaishnava Hindus and Parsees, seems to be correct when he writes: "What all these religious viewpoints appear to mean for the individual behaviour is a sense of being religiously on his toes, so to speak. He must consider the religious significance of every act, not in the ritualistic and brahminical sense but in the sense of having to make a responsible decision as to whether he is showing reverence for life or contributing to his eternal salvation" (emphasis added). In the "negative" sense this McClelland finds reflected in the denial of their handing over the religious authority to the experts (priestly class) or "tradition that prescribe minutely for them how they should behave ritually". Weber (1958: 204) rather misunderstands this "innovative individualism" when he writes of Jainism: "Its ritualistic attitude was not completely clear and could not be in the absence of a supramundane God and an ethic anchored to his will. While the sect is constituted on the principle of strict separation and while the laity is bound to the monks, it has not been provided with a fixed ritual of its own”.
This strong religious and ethical foundation whose popular expression we find in Bania stereotype of being “strict about ritual purity and religion in general” (Miller 1975: 63) offers a well-rounded commercial ethic. Limitation of desires and self discipline are important qualities for a successful businessman in the long run. One of the five basic vows for a layman, the self-prescribed limitation of possession (parigraha-pariman vrara) is perhaps directly responsible for cultivating these qualities. Stevenson (1915: 209) writes: "The
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