Jain Journal 2004 01

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

Page 39

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JAIN JOURNAL : VOL-XXXVIII, NO. 3 JAN. 2004
At the very outset, it is to be noted that some basic Vedic thoughts and ideas which had come down to us from the time of the Rgveda (i.e. 15th cent. B.C.) to that of Mahāvīra (i.e. 6th cent. B.C.), were prevalent at the time of Mahāvīra who, by means of his convincing arguments, had tried his best to transform some of these ideas of the people into the realm of reality. For example, according to the Vedas, God, the Supreme Power, created the world. Mahāvīra did not preach that God created the world. The Sūtrakstānga (1.3.64-68), one of the Agama granthas of the Svetāmbaras, says that some people say that Brahma created the world, but it is false (Bamho is the word used in Prakrit). It says that people do not know that the world was never created by God and it is eternal. This was the first revolutionary idea that was preached by Mahāvīra in the 6th century B.C.
The second revolutionary idea was that the life of all beings are very sacred and naturally they should not be killed, but should be protected. All animals wish to live, and not to be slain; therefore, the Jain monks must relinquish the dangerous killing of animals.
Thirdly, the Vedic concept of Ātman (self) is challenged. According to the Vedic Upanişads, Atman is permanent, without beginning, change or end. Mahāvīra opposed this view and said-- “Reality (sat) is not permanent, unchangeable or endless”. What is the actual construction of Atmā which we call soul? In general, according to Indian Philosophy, the Atmā of the human beings is ultimately connected to the Paramātmā, which is the Supreme Authority or the Supreme Soul. In between there are intermediary stages. But what the Jains call as Atmā and Parmātmā is different, because the Jains do not believe in an outside Absolute power, their interpretation of Ātmā (i.e.jīva), is different.
Fourthly, about the origin of the idea of Ahimsā. In India, the cult of ahimsā is very old. It is found in Vedic as well as in Buddhist religions. In the Rg-veda we have lots of passages on Ahimsa- 'mā himsih'. Buddhism too deals with Ahiṁsā. But since it was only the Jains who philosophized Ahimsā or made it a part of their philosophy, Ahimsā becomes a property of Jainism. In most of the Indian literature, whatever be the language - be it Mārāthī, Gujarāti, Bengali, Hindi, Telugu, Tāmil, Kannada, or Mālayālam, --you will see that they deal with some aspects of Ahimsā in their writings.