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Lord Mahâvîra
"The Maskarins or Fatalists are the next to be considered. They represent a class of philosophers who admit that there are infinite numbers and grades of concrete existents, of living beings who, as individuals, experience pleasure and pain and pass by death from one state of existence to another which is better, equal or worse, but they deny that our happiness and misery, weal and ill, are caused by us individually or determined by any other cause except what they term fate or necessity (niyai). All things are prearranged by nature and unalterably fixed. Some beings are capable of bodily movement, others not; it depends upon certain conditions whether they are in the one state or in the other (sangai). Proceeding from these erroneous notions, they deny all exertion, struggle, power, vigour or manly strength. Those who boldly proclaim these opinions are really deluded. They, too, cannot account for moral distinctions."34
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"There are yet again a class of philosophers35 who maintain that the soul has power to attain the highest state of purity or sinlessness, but just as distilled water may again be defiled on coming into contact with impurities, so may be the soul defiled by pleasant excitement or hate. In upholding such a view these philosophers really deny the possibility of the soul attaining an undecaying or immaterial condition (nijjara) within its living experience, and final release (moksa) after death. They betray, in other words, just their faulty notion of immortality here and hereafter."36
"The philosophers hitherto considered differ from one another in intellect, will, character, opinion, taste, undertakings and plans, but their views in their moral effect are the same, being actuated by the same motive, prompted by the same unmoral sentiments. We may take for instance the views of Purana Kassapa and Gosala Mankhaliputta. The former denies causation in that he denies activity on the part of soul; the latter, on the other hand, assigns fate as the cause of everything. What is the difference between the two, in so far as the moral bearings of their doctrines are concerned? When these philosophers are judged from the ethical standpoint of a Kriyavadin, all appear in one sense or another as so many unmoral metaphysicians (akriyavadins)."37 "Those who, besides unmoral metaphysicians, are in some way opposed to a Kriyavadin are the sceptics and moralists. The
| SR No. | 023277 |
| Book Title | Lord Mahavira Vol 02 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | S C Rampuria |
| Publisher | Jain Vishva Bharati Institute |
| Publication Year | 2001 |
| Total Pages | 244 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 21 MB |