________________
Conclusion
223 Thus the answer of Jainism to the problem of injustice is four-fold : doctrine of karman, equality of life, non-violence and equanimity. Ignorance
In spite of the spread of education in modern times, the problems of life seem to multiply rather than decrease. Of what use is knowledge which binds us rather than liberate ?
Jainism teaches us that all knowledge is relative and corelated. Let us be receptive to every thought. Let us not assume the attitude of finality about our knowledge. One-sided attitude only complicates problems rather than solve them. It does not give us any solution to such ethical questions as determinism' and 'freedom of will'. Non-absolutism shows us the path of synthesis among fate and human effort; faith, knowledge and action; and supra-moral plane of life and practical code of morality.
The answer of Jainism to the problem of knowledge is represented in its doctrine of non-absolutism.
Much of misunderstanding between one nation and the other could be solved if we could adopt the attitude of nonabsolutism on political problems.
Selfishness
Selfishness lies at the root of all problems. All immoral practices arise out of selfish nature of man.
Selfishness can be overcome by realising the true nature of self. According to Vedānta, the individual se identical with the universal self (brahman); and the summum bonum of life is to realise this identity. This broadens our outlook and lifts us above selfishness. Buddhism, on the other hand, asks us not only to destroy our ego but also to believe that the self, for which we struggle so much, is a non-entity. Both of these views represent idealism, whereas Jainism is a realistic system. It propounds that the self is a real, permanent entity and that each soul has a distinct existence. What Jainism lays down is neither a belief in the unity of life nor in the non-entity of the self, but a distinction between the self (jiva) and the non-self (ajiva) and a victory over passions
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
