________________
CHAPTER - 6 THEISTIC COLOR OF POPULAR BELIEFS
AND SADHANA
6.1 INTRODUCTORY REMARK
Throughout the previous chapters an effort has been done to put before the reader the Jain Darsana, its metaphysics, its theory of knowledge and logic, its ethics, its philosophy of soul etc. But then Jainism is not simply one of the systems of Indian philosophy, or simply a Darśana, Jainism is this and still is much more to the people of India, to Jains as well as non-Jain, Jainism as religion and thought, is a way of life. It has its religious and cultural background at the root of its faith. It does not merely express its acceptance in the existence of soul but extends a very high status and attitude towards the essence of the soul. Jainism basically is, though it is too analytical and quite rational, religious in its attitude. The religious attitude of the Jains could be expressed in the words of William James, “Were one asked to characterize the life of religion in the broadcast and most general term possible, one might say that it consists of the belief that there is an unseen order, and that our supreme good lies in harmoniously adjusting ourselves thereto. This belief and this adjustment are the religious attitude in the soul.” If we take Jainism with special reference to its philosophy of soul and theory of non-absolutism or Anekāntavāda, the religious tolerance and willingness to accept the other's views. and a strong insistence of Ahimsā or non-injury to any living beings, we certainly find a powerful religious attitude at the core of Jainism.
The popular beliefs have also their own status and importance, at least, in religion and philosophy. Many thinkers including "Immanual Kant held a curious doctrine about such objects of belief as God, the design of creation, the soul, its freedom, and the life hereafter. These things, “he said,” are properly not objects of knowledge at all. Our conceptions always require a sense content to work with, and as the words 'soul', 'God', 'immortality', cover no distinctive sense content whatever, it follows that theoretically speaking they are the words devoid of any significance. Yet strongly enough they have a definite meaning
1. William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, (1952) p. 53
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
