Concept of Divinity in Jainism

Author(s): P Ajay Kothari
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

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worshipped as a god because the.cow urine and cow-dung are considered as a necessary material for purification of a place. The dog carries Kalabhairava, a form of Shiva and therefore receives the worship of Hindus whenever his master is worshipped. 92 Rev..W.Ward observes that the elephant, the lion, the bull, the buffalo, the rat, are worshipped at the festivals of the gods whom respectively they serve as vehicles, that is of Indra, Durga, Shiva, Yama, and Ganesha.93 In the words of E.W.Hopkins, “It appears to the savage who fears the forest, to the barbarian who sees in the tree the spirit of productivity; and to civilised man, to whom the tree is emblematic of divinity”.94 The tree Pippala is still considered so sacred that a Hindu would be afraid to utter a falsehood besides it. Hindus have faith in Tulsi (a plant) and offer worship to attain prosperity for the family.95 Several rivers are personified and invoked as deities. In Rig Veda, one hymn (X.75) celebrates Sindhu or the Indus, while another (III.33) sings the praises of sister streams. 96 Certain places of the rivers are peculiarly sacred and draw to them great number of devotees; the union of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati at Prayaga.97 Mountains, like Kailasha, the dwelling place of Shiva, are very much worshipped. Divinity in Philosophical System
There are very many ways in which the relation with divinity can be defined. Some keep divine beings aloof from the process whilst granting his experience; some others make God and the universe identical; some keep God as the best ideal for all and nothing more; some others expect that ideal person to help in the efforts of the individuals; some make God the Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer of the Universe; some others grant Him only absolute transcendence; some make him only the moral Governor or Ruler of the Universe; and some make him as an a efficient cause of universe and in addition the material cause. Some others hold that God is incarnating as the Messenger at crucial periods of the historical struggle between the powers of light and of darkness,
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THE CONCEPT OF DIVINITY IN JAINISM