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40 First Steps to Jainism
universally accepted postulate which was not required to be proved. It was the revealed word out of the teachings of the enlightened ones with all the authority of their perfect knowledge, insight and experience.
(a) Moreover, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The Karma concept provides a satisfactory explanation for otherwise inexplicable divergence in existence, as stated in the beginning of this chapter. The other explanations for the divergence are the extremely materialist theory of thinkers like Charvak who considers the creation as a lifeless interplay of elements. This is generally not acceptable. Or at the other end is the theory that a super-natural phenomena called God is responsible for the creation with all the diversity and aberrations. The institution of the supreme God though solving a number of problems creates many more and leaves a large number of questions like "who created the creator God" and "why should He put man to sin only to forgive him" which has been aptly put in a rubai by the famous Omar Khayam
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"Oh, Thou who man of baser earth didst make. And with Eden didst devise the snake,
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For all the sin, wherewith the face of man,
Is blackened, man's forgiveness, give and take"
(b) As stated earlier Karma theory steers clear of such problems, and makes the being self-reliant and responsible for its deeds, at the same time enforcing an ethical behaviour and highly moral conduct by willing common consent, which ultimately makes the world a better place to live. It provides a satisfactory key to the riddle of the creation and its complications and the key is in the hands of a real living being i.e. the Man, who is the central piece in the Karma scheme.
(c) Not that Karma theory and materiel nature of Karma has not faced its share of criticism. It has been considered fatalistic, individualistic and rather mechanical and too emphatic on punishment and retribution. The student of detailed aspects of Karma may like to go through the learned dissertations on the subject, where arguments are marshalled to counter such unmerited criticism. Here it may be briefly stated, on the basis of earlier discussions, that the Karma theory is neither fatalistic nor individualistic, nor mechanical nor retributive. A deeper understa -nding of the subject will reveal that belief in Karma leads to voluntary healthy
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