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Historical Development of Jaina Philosophy and Religion
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means for quenching the thirst of a man permanently. life. Spirituality consists in realising these higher Not only this, its attempts at the temporary appease- values of life. ment of a yearning, have the opposite effect of flaring
Jaina spirituality teaches us that happiness or it up like the fire fed by an oblation of butter. It is unhappiness is centred in the soul and not in worldly clearly noted in the Uttarādhyayana :
objects. Pleasure and pain are self-created. They are suvanna-rūpassa u pavvayābhave
subjective in nature also. They do not depend totally siya hu kelāsasama asamkhayā.
on the objects, but depend also on the attitude of a narassa luddhassa na tehim kiñci
person towards them. The Uttarādhyayanasūtra iccha u āgāsasamā aṇantiyā. (9.48 )
( 20.37 ) mentions: That is even if an infinite number of gold and
appă katta vikattā ya, duhāna ya suhāņa ya silver mountains, each as large as the Kailāśa, are
appā mittamamittam ca, duppatthiyasupatthio. conjured up, they would not lead to the final extin
That the self (atma ) is both the doer and the ction of human desires, because desires are infinite enjoyer of happiness and misery. It is its own friend like space. Not only Jainism but all spiritual tradi- when it acts righteously and foe when it acts unrighttions unanimously hold that the root cause of sorrow eously. An unconquered self is its own enemy, unis attachment, lust or a sense of mineness. The ful- conquered passions and sense organs of the self are filment of desires is not the means of ending them. its own enemy. Oh monk ! having conquered them, I Though a materialistic perspective can bring material move righteously. prosperity, it cannot make us free from attachments
In another Jaina text of the early period Auraand yearnings. Our materialistic outlook can be com- paccākkhānam (c. 3rd A. D.) it is mentioned : pared to our attempt of chopping the branches off
ego me sasado appā, ņānadamsanasamjuo while watering the roots of a tree. In the above men
sesā me bahira bhāvā, savve samjogalakkhanā. tioned gāthā, it is clearly pointed out that desires are
samjogamūlājiveņam, pattā dukkhaparamparā endless just as space (Akaśa ) and it is very difficult
tamhā samjogasambandhar, savvablavena vosire. to fulfil all of them. If mankind is to be freed from
(26.27) selfishness, violence, exploitation, corruption and
The soul endowed with knowledge and peraffliction stemming from them, it is necessary to out- ception alone is permanent, all other objects are alien grow materialistic outlook and to develop an attitude,
to self. All the serious miseries, suffered by self, are which may be described as spiritual.
the result of individual's sense of 'mine' or attachThe word Adhyatma, the Samskrta equiva- ment towards the alien objects and so it is imperative lent of spirituality derived from adhi+ ātmā, implies to abandon completely the sense of mine' with regard the superiority and sublimity of Ātman, the soul to the external objects. In short, according to Jainism force. In the oldest Jaina text Ācāranga, the word not identifying oneself with the objects not belonging ajjhatthavisohi, connotes, inner purity of the self, to the soul, is the starting point of spiritual practice which is the ultimate goal of Jaina-Sadhanā. Accor- (sādhanā ). Non-alignment with material object is the ding to Jainism, the realisation of physical amenities pre-requisite for self-realisation, the main objective or creature comforts is not the ultimate aim of life. of early Jainism. According to it, renouncement of There are some higher ideals of life which are over attachment is the same as the emergence of a balanand above the mere biological and economic needs of ced view of even-sightedness ( samadrstita ).
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