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Teachings of Lord Mahavira Jainism Classical and Original
K. R. CHANDRA
Religion is prominently associated with the mankind and therefore, it is generally said to be as old as man. Every religion claims that it is the oldest one and Jainism also professes the same. Authenticity of this claim depends on the availability of concrete evidences. On the basis of some indirect Vedic references and archaeological remains of Mohenjodaro attempts have been made to prove the antiquity of Jainism but scholars are not unanimous on this point. On the basis of some noncontroversial evidences from the Pali canon and the Hindu Purānas the historicity of Lord Parsva is proved and Lord Rsabha is accepted as the first Tirthankara of the Jainas. About the historicity of Lord Nemi, the cousin brother of Lord Krsna there is still no unanimous opinion among the scholars.
Jainism does not believe in the God-creator and the Vedas therefore, it is regarded as an atheist religion (năstika-dharma). Really speaking it can not be branded as such because it believes in the existence of the soul (ātmā), the capacity of every soul to become a God and the migratory nature of the soul from one life to another because of its own deeds (karma). According to Jainism the universe (loka) is beginningless and endless.
Jainism belongs to the school of Pluralistic realism because it believes in many individual and independent souls (nánātmavāda) and it has conceived of six different substances or realities (saddravya)—the living entity or the soul and the five non-living entities such as the matter (pudgala), the medium of motion (dharma), the medium of rest (adharma), the space (äkāśa) and the time (kāla). It is also a dualistic school as it accepts two fundamental substances viz., the living and the non-living (jiva and ajiva). It is also said to be a monistic school of philosophy as it believes in all the entities existent (sat). So to say 'Reality is Existence
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