tman_and_moksa

SR No.: 020053
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: G N Joshi
Publisher: Gujarat University
Publication Year: 1965
Total Pages: 901
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

Page 257

Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
Jainism
225
corrupt, and to which they oppose their own Adgas, as constituting the true Veda. They observe caste distinctions without attaching religious significance to them."1 Like the Buddhists, the Jainas did not admit the existence of a creator or God because they thought it to be unnecessary. They could explain the world without God. According to them, the world is eternal. Another reason for the denial of God must have been their dislike for the Brāhmanic predominance which exploited God for its own supremacy. Mrs. Sinclair Stevenson describes the causes of the Jain revolt against the Brāhmanic supremacy in the following manner. Jainism raised its voice against the caste hierarchy and made the way to turn ascetic easier, more practicable and accessible to the persons of all castes. According to Jainism, any person who acccpts the Jain-creed can turn a wandering mendicant at any stage in his life; and that Moksa can be attained by all persons irrespective of their castes provided that they lead that type of life which is prescribed by Jainism. Stevenson describes the reason why the reformers like the Jainas and the Bouddhas must have felt dislike for the sacrificial Vedic practices. She writes-“The faith of the woodland peoples inspired them with the idea that all things-animals, insects, leaves and clouds -- were possessed of so i's; and this, together with the growing weight of their belief in transmigration, gave them a shrinking horror of taking life in any form, whether in sacrifice or sport, lest the blood of the slain should chain them still more firmly to the wheel of rebirth. So
1 A. Barth : The Religions of India, p. 143. Ā 15
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