Introduction to Jainism

Author(s): Rudi Jansma, Sneh Rani Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

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INTRODUCTION TO JAINISM
Incions
have much good fortune which is the fruit of what we ourselves have sown as well.
Good circumstances will automatically appear when one succeeds in expressing the essential noble qualities of the soul in thought and in action. No more than that is needed. The Jain teachings point the way to how one can finally completely get rid of all karmas. But does that mean that we also have to abandon sowing pleasant karmas and avoid a happy future? Can't we throw away evil and the irritations of life and keep the good and pleasant things? Jainism as well as Buddhism teaches us that what we usually call happiness is in fact but a form of suffering. Because all happiness is fragile, transient - at some point it will end. Moreover such happiness is never experienced without a tinge of sorrow, without fear - even if such feelings may temporarily be pushed into the background. A drug addict who has just taken his fix can feel very happy, ecstatic even, but someone who looks at it from the outside feels pity for him, seeing that his happiness is in fact deep suffering, shadowed with tensions.
Real happiness or bliss knows no opposite. It is a universal state of purity and omniscience - maybe even forgetfulness about the existence of suffering. Viewed from that level, all worldly joy is nothing but deep suffering. Mystics speak about this state as "something” that can not be expressed in words, that transcends all worlds of good and bad, joy and dismay. In deep spiritual affection to a guru or even a statue, a devotee may feel or be deeply absorbed in some of that divine happiness. It is of an entirely different nature than mundane, personal love.
There is no revengeful God or Devil in heaven, hell, or wherever who rises above the karmic law, and makes us suffer according to his will. There may be, as taught by Jainism, many entities in the invisible worlds than inflict pain and suffering on humans and others, and there are also those who are helpful, or which can warn against danger even before it is visible to the human eye, but they can not act outside the karmic framework. Nor is there a forgiving God