Jainism in a Global Perspective - Collection of Jain papers of 1993 Parliament of World Religions, Chicago

SR No.: 014010
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sagarmal Jain, Shreeprakash Pandey
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith
Publication Year: 1998
Total Pages: 402
Language: English
Classification: Seminar & Articles
File Size: 23 MB

Page 162

Religious Harmony and Fellowship of Faiths : A Jaina Perspective
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external modes of worship, but the right attitude and mentality are the things that makes religious practices fruitful. The Ācāränga-sutra mention that the practices which are considered to be the cause of bondage may be the cause of liberation also.25 It is the intrinsic purity not the external practices, which makes the person religious, Haribhadra propounds that neither one who remains without clothes nor one who is white clad, neither a logician not a metaphysician, not a devotee of personal cult will get liberation unless he overcomes his passions26. If we accept the existence of the diversity of modes of worship according to the time, place and level of aspirants and lay stress on the intrinsic purity in religious matters then certainly we cannot condemn religious practices of a non-absolutist does not divide them into the catergory of true and false. They becomes false only when they reject the truth-value of others27. It was this broader outlook of non-absolutism which made Jainas tolerant.
While expounding this tolerant outlook of the Jainas, Upādhyāya Yasovijaya (17th cent. A.D.) maintains a true non-absolutist does not disdain any faith but treats all the faiths equally as a father does to his sons, for, a non-absolutist does not have any prejudiced and biased outlook. A true believer of Syadväda' (non-absolutism) is one who pays equal regard to all the faiths. To remain impartial to the various faiths is the essence of being religious. A little knowledge which induces a person to be impartial is more worth while than the unilateral vast knowledge of scriptures28.
Non-personalism, A Keystone for Tolerance
Jainism opposes the person-cult (person-worship) for it makes the mind biased and intolerant. For the Jainas, the object of veneration and worship is not a person but perfectness i.e. the eradication of attachment and aversion. The Jainas worship the quality or merit of the person not the person. In the sacred namaskāra-mantra of the Jainas, veneration is paid to the spiritual-posts such as arhat, siddha, ācārya and not the individuals like Mahāvīra, Rşabha or anybody else. In the fifth pada we find that the veneration is paid to all the saints of the world. The words 'loye' and
Savva'demonstrate the generosity and broader outlook of the Jainas 29. It is not person but his spiritual attitude which is to be worshipped. Difference in name, is immaterial since every name at its best conotes the