Jain Journal 1997 01

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

Page 25

JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXXI, No. 3 January 1997
to disappear, and the original order of the world has to be regained. The task of salvation is thus to be performed by God and his son, the Messiah, in cooperation with man, and the former is assumed to be shouldering 95% of the total responsibilities against 5% of the latter. These figures, which are no more than symbolical, indicate that salvation is impossible to be attained without having God's grace.
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Ancient Indians were totally unaware of this concept of salvation, and they came upon the doctrines of karma and transmigration, to explain the causes of suffering on earth and offer the method of freedom therefrom. Satan is, no doubt, afraid of the Messiah, for he has the power to subdue him. Satan is, however, not at all worried about the doctrines of karma and rebirth, for they are incapable of taking man and the world away from him. Instead, these doctrines can allow man to be enclosed forever inside the cycle of metempsychosis, thereby safeguarding the Satanic world as it stands. This is the state of being that Satan welcomes most.
Uplifting the banner of ahimsa, Jainas as well as Buddhists attacked Brahmins who used to sacrifice animals. The practice of animal sacrifice must have been brought into India by the Aryan invaders along with the idea of God. Animal sacrifice is an important ceremony in the monotheistic tradition. An animal is killed here and blood is shed. It symbolizes the liquidation of sin, as in the case of Jewish circumcision. Sacrificing a lamb symbolizes sacrificing the Messiah, through which man is supposed to be brought nearer to God. As aforementioned, all things created by God did not fall, therefore they stand in a position purer and closer to God than man. They have thus become the offerings to God, through which man is allowed to come closer to Him. Non-Vedic Indians including Jainas and Buddhists were totally unaware of this concept of animal sacrifice.
'Ahimsa is the way of salvation.' Reforming Pārsva's way of teaching, Mahāvīra taught this in a loose framework of the doctrines of karma and rebirth. Later, when the eradication of karmic particles came to be established as the sole method of freedom from rebirth in the fabulous edifice of the karma theory, the role of ahimsä weighed therein came to be reduced to minimal. Nevertheless, Mahāvira's teaching that ahimsa is the way of salvation has remained in essence unchanged until today, as shown in the content of the vigorous asceticism of Jaina ascetics.
There is nothing more precious than life for any living being, whether it be a man or a worm. 'Love of life' is the supreme value underlying the highest truth, highest goodness and highest beauty.