Jain Journal 1972 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 28

APRIL, 1972
165
and when it will return to it. According to it, everything in the world is undergoing constant change, but nothing ever perishes and disappears out of existence. All objects in the world are created and destroyed as a result of the modifications of the two cardinal principles of jīva and ajīva (conscious soul and unconscious matter), but the essential substance remains as it is-it never vanishes out of existence.
The Birth and Wanderings of the Jiva :
All embodied beings are compounded of the conscious soul and unconscious matter, and so long as a total separation does not take place between the two, the beings have to wander in the worlds. The principle theme of Jainism is to propound the means by which this rupture can be effected, and the conscious soul can be liberated from the thraldom of matter. Ahimsā (non-violence), sanyama (self-control) and tapasyā (austerities) are the means by which every human being can advance towards his spiritual freedom.
The Supreme Fulfilment of Man :
As, in Jainism, there is no conception of a Supreme Being, creator of the universe, there is no room in it for any theory of avatāra-hood or God-appointed prophet-hood. The great men who have attained spiritual freedom were nothing but men like us. They had developed their souls by a steady practice of self-discipline through many lives ; and any man, if he has the will, can do like-wise. Human birth is the only condition of perfect spiritual development ; even the gods are incapable of this perfection.
PHILOSOPHY
The Jaina philosophy is commonly known as syadvāda. Syādvāda or anekāntavāda views things from many angles and reveals their true nature by embracing their different aspects and attributes. Syāt in the word syādvāda means 'may be', or it may be taken to mean 'somehow or 'relatively to'. The real sense of the compound word, syādvāda or anekantavāda can, therefore, be said to be objective realism-viewing things under their diverse aspects by a multiple or many-sided vision. Every real object or dravya is subject to the triple operation of birth, persistence and dissolution. This triple operation goes on at all times in an uninterrupted simultaneity in every object. The part of a thing which is stable or persistent is its very substance, and the part which is