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HERITAGE OF LORD MAHAVIRA:
all such religions that accept this primary law, Jainism holds a place apart with its all-embracing doctrine of the soul. It is in Jainism that the principle of Ahimsa or Nonviolence has got the highest theoretical as well as practica importance. And it is in Jainism, too, that its place has
been supported more logically than anyLaw of Karma where else. Moreover Jainism differs as Expounded from the various other religous systems: by Jainism in that it does not believe the soul to be
completely helpless in its dependence on Karma. Accordingly it does not view the soul as hopelessly condemned to act and react upon the consequences of deeds, as it were like an automatic machine, and to beyond all responsibility for its moral attitude and action Jainism, on the contrary clearly states that the individual gifted with a certain amount of freedom of will. This is however, a fact which none among all the conventiona writers on Jainism has up till now duly emphasized. And yet this tenet forms one of the most important and intricate aspects of the doctrine of Karma, as expounded at full lengthin the Jaina Scriptures. They accept, no doubt, that the soul is indeed constantly under the control of Karma. They admit, as well, that its body and its sufferings and joys are also shaped by Karma. And they recognize, too, that even those passions that move it, and all the fatal instincts that disturb it, are predestined under the impact of Karma or previous deeds. But on the other hand, they most emphatically declare that the soul is invested with the freedom to exercise its own resolution. Acting under its own free will, it can break the most hideous of the fetters of
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
