Jain Journal 1972 07

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

Page 37

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JAIN JOURNAL
Ajivikas were no believers in action (kriyā) but were a band of fatalists who taught in part as follows :
"One man admits action, another man does not admit action. Both men are alike, their case is the same, because they are actuated by the same force, i.e., fate. It is their destiny that all beings, movable or immovable, come to have a body, to undergo the vicissitudes of life and to experience pleasure and pain."
Mahavira repudiated it in toto, establishing in its place, action (kriyā) and exertion (puruşa-parākrama). He would rather approve Kundakoliya's observation which account runs as follows :
“Then you, Kundakoliya, answered him (Deva) thus : How, then, oh Deva, didst thou acquire this thy celestial bliss, thy celestial glory, thy celestial power of a Deva? Was it without exertion, without labour, without vigour, without manly strength ? Surely, Kundakoliya, this account is correct.”
In Mahavira's own time, a large number of view-points, several hundred perhaps, were current in eastern India. The leading-most among them may be placed into three groups, viz., doctines of nonaction (akriyāvāda), of scepticism (ajñānavāda) and of formalism (vinayavāda). Doctrines of non-action sheltered four important sects as follows:
(1) Atheism (nāstikavāda) of Ajita Kesa-kambali, (2) Eternalism (nityatvavāda) of Kakudha Katyayana, (3) Absolutism (ekāntavāda) of Purana Kasyapa, and (4) Fatalism or Determinism (niyativāda) of Mankhali Gosala.
Of the doctrines of scepticism, the real upshot has been identified in the Uttarādhyayana Sūtra as 'inefficiency of knowledge'. In the Sūtrakịtānga, the upholders of scepticism are represented as those thinkers who, pretending to be clever, reason incoherently and do not go beyond the confusion of their own ideas. T'he doctrines of formalism prescribed certain precepts and vows for their followers. According to the Sūtrakstānga, the upholders of formalism say, 'The goal of religious life is realised by conforming to the rules of discipline', such as abstention from seasoned food, from bath in cold water, etc. The existence of so many rival views often led to purile controversy and bad-blood among their followers, including householders as well as monks. The