Jain Moral Doctrine

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

Page 92

JAINA ÇARITRA AS BASIS OF UNIVERSAL RELIGION AND MORALITY
and the Samyak-çaritra is the pure activity of the self and for itself. As regards the Vratas, the practice of which, as we have shown, is the essence of the Çāritra, they have similarly been held to be not so much the abstinence from killing or telling lies etc. etc. as the suppression (Nivịtti) of all feelings of attachment etc. due to the realisation of one's essential nature i.e. his pure apprehension, cognition and bliss. The Samiti's Gupti's and all other moral practices are also interpreted in a similar way.
By the above, it is not to be understood that the external practices are of no avail and may be neglected. It is only meant that the religious and moral acts are always to be backed by the best of motives,—not simply utilitarian but purely spiritual. In fact, this is the foundation of all true religions and true ethics; and may well serve as the basis of a universal code of moral and religious acts. The distinctive feature of Jainism lies not only in emphasising this all-important condition of all religious and moral activities but in justifying their position by looking upon morality not as an adjunct to the human nature but as part and parcel of it. Çāritra or right conduct is thus explained by the Jainas; “When one gives up the enjoyment of the objects of the five senses, his conduct is good from the Vyayahāra standpoint; when he removes from his heart all feelings of attachment and envy which prompt one to lean to sensuous enjoyment of things, his conduct is good from the Niscaya view'. When the person realises and is firmly established in his pure nature and feels that self-control (e.g. avoidance of enjoying sensuous objects) is a part of his nature, his conduct is supremely good-good from what is called the "Sūddha-niśçaya' stand-point.” This is in substance the Jaina view about the test of the goodness of a religious or moral act. In light of this old, old doctrine of the Jaina Ācāryas, one may offer the following as the spirit of an universal religion and ethics, as a settler of all religious differences and as a norm, explaining all moral conduct: Practise the Çāritra with its constituent Vratas and their complements and supplements; when practising, see that your heart is not vitiated by any improper motive; look upon the Caritra not as activities leading to the gain of any worldly good nor even as moral or religious activities externally appended to your self; but feel, realise and be absorbed in the idea that it constitutes the very essence of your Soul or Personality.
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