Divinity In Jainism

Author(s): Harisatya Bhattacharya
Publisher: Devendra Printing and Publishing Co Ltd

Page 16

13 absolve God from His responsibility for the pains which men suffer in the world, the western theists sometimes take up the position that it is men themselves who are responsible for their sufferings. God arranged for the uninterrupted enjoyment of happiness here Man becomes extremely avaricious and ambitious, and for this, man must have disease, suffering and misery; God is in no way responsible for them It cannot be said that this contention is absolutely well-ground. ed, for, not infrequently, people who are not culpably greedy or vicious, are found to suffer from various vicissitudes. The Jews of ancient times used to argue --God supplied the first man with unparallelled pleasures; but man choosing to act contrary to His will was expelled from the Garden of Eden and has been suffering disease, misery and death as consequences of his disobedience since that time immemorial, generation to generation. But what sort of explanation is this? Is it Divine kindness that their descendants would go on suffering for the sins of Adam and Eve ? More reasonable seems to be the explanation of human misery and pain, offered by the ancient thinkers of India. According to the Nāıyāyıka and other philosophers, the pain of