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COMPENDIUM OF JAINISM
the Self-existent Being progressively reveals his essence and character in the ideas and ideals of His rational creatures, and thus stands in personal relationship with them. In the earlie stages, theism conceives of God simply as the Cause and Ground for all finite and dependent existences; but as it develops, it realises the idea of God as as immanent and selfmanifesting as well as creative and transcendent."*1
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यो यो यां यां तनुं भक्तः श्रध्दयाचितुमिच्छति ।
तस्य तस्याचलां श्रध्दां तामेव विदधाम्यहम् ||२९|| स तया श्रध्दया युक्तस्तस्याराधनमीहते । लभते च ततः कामान्मयैव विहितान्हितान् ॥२२॥
भगवद्गीता, अध्याय ७.
It seems to me that the term atheism itself appears to have undergone a change in its meaning just as the idea of God has varied with the founders of different religions.
The most common concept of a personal God is that he is the supreme being who creates the world and rules over it; he presides over the destinies of all living creatures and awards rewards or punishments according to the merits or sins committed by each individual. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Śri Kṛṣṇa says: If any devotee desires to worship the idol of a God with devotion, I grant him unshakeable faith in that God only. He worships that God endowed with that faith and he gains his desires, for it is I who bestow the same on him."1A As regards His attribute of power of creation Swami Vivekananda said: "What makes this creation ? God. What do I mean by the use of the English word God? Certainly not the word as ordinarily used in English-a good deal of difference. There is no other suitable word in English. I would rather confine myself to the Sanskrit word Brahman. He is the general cause of these manifestations. What is Brahman? He is eternal, eternally pure, eternally awake, the almighty, the
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