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JAIN JOURNAL
Vol. XLI
No. 4 April
2007
A LOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF KARMA DOCTRINE
Subhash Chandra Jain All religions preach that human beings should do good deeds. What could be the basis for such a preaching? This preaching must be based on a metaphysical presupposition that good deeds give rise to good consequences. A corollary of the presupposition must be that evil deeds produce bad consequences. The presupposition and its corollary are the basis of the doctrine “What you sow, so you reap”. Though the doctrine seems logical, most people do not have faith in it. One possible reason for the skepticism in the doctrine is an inadequate understanding of the system of deeds and their consequences. The dilemma of understanding the system can be circumvented by leaving the administration of the system to a supreme entity, as propounded by several religions. But the invocation of a supreme entity for administering the system raises more questions than it answers. It fails to provide proper answers to the questions related to the suffering of good people, the luxuriousness of evil people, and the vast heterogeneity in this world. The answer to these questions and a logical explanation of the system is provided by the doctrine of karma (Karmavāda). The original teachings of the karma doctrine are believed to be conceived by learned sages with knowledge beyond the senses. Their statements command unswerving faith, but such faith will be considered as a blind faith unless their statements examined on a touchstone of logic. The fundamental postulates of the karına doctrine are logically examined in this article.
Dravya
The karma doctrine is related to living beings; hence one has to learn the true meaning of a living being before examining the doctrine. For understanding the true meaning of a living being it is essential to
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