Introduction to Jainsim

Author(s): Dewan Bahadur A B Lathe
Publisher: Jain Mitra Mandal

Page 57

JAINISM
49
he would not have brought into existence misery as well as felicity." The sage then goes on to ask of his opponents, why the world should be destroyed by him who gave it birth. If it is to stop the evil-doing of the wicked, why did he create the evil-doers at all? Then comes the teleological explanation of creation, so piously stuck to by even critical heads. * The answer briefly is that "the variety in the world" that is what strikes the teleologist-"is caused by the variety of the Karmas which is the action of the soul." The soul is, therefore, the cause of every thing through its own actions-of every evil by its evil actions and of every good by its good actions. The soul is its own God. But then,
WHO ARE THE TRUE GODS?
Jainism transforms the Adwait doctrine in its characterisation of divinity. The soul has the capacity either to degrade itself to the depths of the Nigoda or the lowest of the seven hells or exhalt itself to the uppermost regions of unending Felicity, Absolute Wisdom, Total Insight and Unlimited Prowess. This Quadruple of Illimitables or Anant Chatustaya is not meant to meddle with the affairs of the world. The souls that attain this
We might very well place by the side of this, a passage from Weber who while writing about Epicurus, says :
"How can we assume that a world full of evil is the creation of the Gods? What have we? Barren deserts, arid mountains, deadly marshes, uninhabitable arctic zones, regions schorched by the southern sun, brias and thorns, tempests, hailstones and hurricanes, ferocious beasts, diseases, pre- . mature deaths; do they not all abundantly prove that the Deity has no hand in the governance of things? It is possible, may, certain, that Gods exist; all the notions of the earth agree to that. But these supremely happy beings who are free from passion, faveuritism and all human weaknesses, enjoy absolute repost." F. 137 History of Philosophy by A. Weber.