Jain Moral Doctrine

Author(s): Harisatya Bhattacharya
Publisher: Jain Sahitya Vikas Mandal

Page 61

JAIN MORAL DOCTRINE
form or other. The same thing is also true of the introduction of the Deva-āyu, an Āyu-karma of the good order. The Nāma and the Gotra-karmas in their subtle form are similarly introduced by acts which are really the practices of the vows of truthfulness etc. Roughly speaking, it may be said that while evil Karmas are introduced by acts of infringement of the Vratas and the śīlas, the inflow of auspicious Karmas is effected by practices involving the observance of those Vratas and the śīlas.
Coming to the Samvara or the stoppage of the inflow of the Karmas, we find that the various practices, e.g., the Gupti, the Samiti, the Parişaha-jaya, the Dharma etc.-all involve the scrupulous observance of the vows of non-violence truthfulness, renunciation, etc. Even the Tapa or the practice of penances and contemplation which bring about the Nirjarā or the elimination of the accumulated Karmas from a soul and lead to its final emancipation or the Mokşa, seems to presuppose a faithful practice of the Vratas beforehand. An estimate of the Jaina moral code is accordingly incomplete without a careful examination of the various vows, prescribed by the Jainas. In fact, the vows and the sub-vows, form the very soul of the Jaina morality and the various moral practices recommended by the Jaina religion are but direct or indirect off-shoots from those vows and sub-vows.
According to the Jainas, a Vrata is an act or practice which is done with an intelligent determination about its nature that it should be done. The intelligent determination is based on a consideration of the effect of the act, both here and hereafter. Non-violence, for example, is prescribed and accepted as a Vrata or duty; why? Because the effect of violence is found to be unpleasant both here (as a punishable crime, according to the law of the land) and hereafter (as casting down the agent to a lower status). A Vrata or a duty is thus essentially connected with the nature of one's self and the determination of it as a Vrata or a duty is founded on an intelligent discovery of its relationship with the self.
A Vrata consists in a practice of some positive act, although it is generally defined as Virati, or abstention from certain manners of activities. The affirmative and the negative aspects of an act are not exclusive of each other. To ask a person to desist from a course of action is not to ask him to remain idle. Real and effective stopping a line of act is always through the active pursuit of a series of positive actions. Accordingly, the Jaina description of a Vrata or duty as a Virati or abstention should not lead one to think that a moral life according to the Jainas is a passive life of negation of
52