Jain Journal 2001 04

SR No.: 520142
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publication Year: 2001
Total Pages: 92
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, India_Jain Journal, & India
File Size: 4 MB

Page 45

THE NOTION OF DHARMA IN JAINISM :
A COMPARATIVE VIEW
V.P. JAIN
Dharma occupies the most central and key position in the Indian tradition as a whole since ancient times and belongs to that class of word like : “The Absolute”, the “truth" and Brahman etc., which defy any attempt at definition and about which the Vedic seer in a state of spiritual bewilderness exclaimed neti netil no I no ! the Brahman is neither this, nor that. He is beyond words, description and definition. The notion of dharma seems nearer to Vyāsa's pronouncement in the Gītā that:
kim karma kim akarmeti kavayo 'pyatra mohitā (4.16) what is Karma i.e. dharma and what is not Karma, even the
wise are perplexed and ignorant about this Rsi Vyasa reconfirms his bewilderment in the following verse:
śrutayo vibhinnā smstayo vibhinnā naiko munih yasya vaco pramanam; dharmasya tattvam nihitam guhayām, mahājano yena gatah sa panthah: Mahābhā. Vanapa. 313.117 The Vedas and smrties speak in different voices. There is not one Muni whose words may be treated as an authority. The truth of dharma is hidden deep in the cave; hence the path
(of dharma) is that was trodden upon by the great. In the Jaina and Buddhist traditions also dharma occupies the top position. It is the nucleus around which everything else revolves and the foundation upon which the whole edifice of the three ancient Indian religions : Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism stands.
In the Hindu religious texts the word 'dharma' has first of all been used in the Rg-Veda as follows:
triņi padā vicaksme Visņurgopā adābhyaḥ ato dharmāni dhāryan Rg-Veda 1.22.18 Lord Vişnu created the three worlds in the limited space of
three steps and has been holding the dharmas within them. In the above quotation dharma may be equated to the word “law"
1.
Ya evam vedāthāta adeso neti neti na hyetasmāditi netyanyatparamastyatha: Bịhadāraṇyaka. 2.3.6.