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duties of Justice etc. The conviction of the Jaina is that all these duties are conducive to good as an end. Hence they should be followed because of the conduciveness to good, and not because they are independent of good consequences.
We have so far considered the criterion by which we are to determine what we morally ought to do in a given situation, how the rightness or wrongness of action is to be decided. But the question that remains to be discussed is: How the moral worth of an action is to be evaluated? How does, in Jaina terminology, an action becomes punya and pāpa-engendering? In other words, how does an act become virtuous or vicious, praiseworthy or blameworthy, morally good or bad? (1) It is likely that an act by the criterion of rightness may be externally right but internally immorally motivated. A man may seem to be doing things according to a moral rule, but it may be with a bad motive. (2) Again, an act by the standard of rightness may be externally wrong, but it may be done with a good motive. For example, one may kill the rich in order to serve the poor. (3) An act may be externally right and done with good motive. (4) An act may be externally wrong and done with a bad motive. Thus there are four possibilities (1) Right act and bad motive, (2) Wrong act and good motive, (3) Right act and good motive and (4) Wrong act and bad motive. The third and fourth category of acts which according to Jaina ethics may be called Subha (auspicious) and Aśubha (inauspicious) Leşyās are respectively called virtuous and vicious, are acts having moral merit and demerit. The concept of Lesyās in Jainism also invites our attention to the fact that the degree of praiseworthiness and blameworthiness of actions will depend on the degree of intensity of good and bad motives. The first category of acts (Right act and bad motive) may look proper externally but its moral significance is zero. All deceptions are of this nature. The moral worth of the second category of acts (wrong act and good motive) is complicated and can be decided only on the nature of the case. Though in Jaina ethical works, importance of good motive is recognised as contributing towards the moral merit of an action yet the Jaina Ācāryas have clearly stated that he who exclusively emphasised the internal at the expense of the external forgets the
Jaina Mysticism and other essays
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