First Steps to Jainism Part 2

Author(s): Sancheti Asso Lal, Manakmal Bhandari
Publisher: Sancheti Trust Jodhpur

Page 93

Freedom of will--The Five Samvay 79
the cause of manifestation of life in different forms, its variations in capacity. behaviour. pleasure and pain, the Indian thinkers universally concluded that these were due to the past Karmas (purakrita) of the individual soul which follow it in successive lives just as a calf follows the mother.
(e) Pursharth or Efforts-As the name implies those who believe in Pursharth or efforts as the determining factor in world affairs hold that whatever pain or pleasure, success or failure-exist in the world is the result of one's own efforts; there being no outside agency interfering in it. In other words such schools accept complete freedom of will as its base, and maintain that it is no use putting the blame on other factors like time, nature etc., the main reason being intelligent or un-intelligent effort leading to success or failure respectively. We shall come back to Pursharth again in subsequent paragraphs.
9. Apart from these five Samvay discussed above there are other factors found in different philosophies like Brahamvad, which treats God, the Supreme Being, solely responsible for everything. On the other extreme is Bhootwad which takes a purely materialistic view of the world; and "accidentalism" akasmatvad holding that everything in the world is accidental or by chance. We find such numerous schools described in Sutrakritang mentioned earlier.
10. What is the Jain view on this subject ? It is well known that the bedrock of Jain Philosophy is theory of Non-absolutism or Anekantwad whereby different viewpoints are considered as valid in judging every phenomena. True to this approach Jain thinkers have considered that all the five Samvay jointly are responsible for the world phenomena. All these together contribute to the success and failure, or pain or pleasure. None of these five viz;, time, disposition, fate, past karmas, and exertion are individually effective. It is only when all the five come into play that--to take an example-crop shall grow in the field. Time for seeding, watering, cutting etc. should be appropriate. There should be timely rain and sunshine. The seeds and soil and water should be such that they have the capability to germinate, grow and ripen. If seeds or soil are infertile there shall be no crop, inspite of all watering and tending. Again it should be destined that there will be crop. Similarly past karma of the farmer should entitle him to reap a
satisfactory harvest. Lastly proper exertion or efforts should be put