ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 02

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 208

B.4.1.1
Religion and Morality (Ethics) - Jaina Perspective Dr. Kamal Chand Sogani
INTERNATION
1Religious Consciousness by Pratt. Page 10 (Macmillan, New York)
SCHOOL
STUDY NOTES version 5.0
OF
SELF STUDY IS THE SUPREME AUSTERITY
Farenga
परम
1.0 Introduction
Jainism is one of the oldest living religions of the world. It represents the continuation of indigenous Śramanic culture that is at least as old as the Vedas themselves, so far as the literary evidence goes, though the archaeological evidence takes Śramanism far back to Harappan civilization, which is regarded as non-Vedic in origin and outlook. The Jaina faith has, no doubt, influenced Vedism on the one hand and Buddhism on the other, though being influenced by them in the course of its gradual development.
STUDIES
1.1 Religion and Morality not Identical
There is no denying the fact that Jainism is humanistic in its approach and spiritualistic in its depth. An unbiased eye can look into it religious fervor and moral earnestness. These two elements are so greatly intertwined in it that one is apt to confuse religion with morality and vice versa. The fact is that one cannot be reduced to the other. In practice, though the two are closely associated, yet, they are quite distinguishable. Jainism subscribes to the view that "religion if taken seriously and rationally will be deeply moral; but it is not morality". The two are not identical. Thus it will not be contradictory to aver that a religious man will be necessarily moral. But a moral man may not be necessarily religious. In other words, religion is coextensive with morality, but morality is not always coextensive with religion. A man may be moral without being religious. All this shows that the realms of religion and morality are theoretically distinguishable. The Jain faith vehemently criticizes the view which identifies religion with personal and social morality, and which defines it merely as "the consciousness of the highest social values". The Jain saints and sages have always exhorted us to look beyond the mere moral nature of man to transcendental horizons of life, thereby justifying that social righteousness is not the be-all and end-all of human life. This is not to decry social morality, but to save religion from being identified with it, and to keep the domain of religion as quite distinct from that of morality.
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