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caused by what is known as “the result of the workings of karma." Questions 3 and 4 (continued):
(6) Was it as reward for their conduct that God created them, or did He create them for his own pleasure ?
(c) As it is impossible to have a body except as a result of karmas, and as karmas cannot be generated without a body of some sort, (gross or subtle) how could God create the rich and poor, happy and miserable, or of what karmas of theirs was this the result, and when did they generate those karmas ?
Answers.—These two questions imply the doctrines of karma and rebirth. As no being has been specially created, it follows that everything which exists is the result of a previous cause. Thus, all suffering is the direct outcome of man's own action in the past or in the present. His very existence on this earth is the result of certain karmic forces he himself has set in motion during past lives ; consequently there cannot exist a God who has created each soul in order to see how they will progress amidst the pitfalls and many sorrowings as well as the joys and pleasures that make up the experiences of human beings.
The Jain conception of God is that such a being could not obtain any pleasure by having knowledge of the success of other souls, nor could he be grieved at their non-success. The Jain God is an omniscient. Being who has risen above all sense perceptions and reached a state of peace-Moksha. Such a. Being is known as a Deva. Hence the Jains teach that all living beings are potentially Gods, and the meaning of life is that by an evolutionary process all the beings in the universe can become “ God.” Qüestions 3 and 4 (continued):—
(d) What is the substance of earth, water, fire, air, space, soul, atoms, and time ?
Answers.-All existing things are divisible under two heads from the Jain standpoint, namely :-Jiva and Ajiva, i. e., soul and inanimate objects. There are said to be three classes of
souls, Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
