Jaina Philosophy

Author(s): Virchand R Gandhi, Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: World Jain Confederation

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-- The Jaina Philosophy make an effort to escape and who waste their forces in a useless or evil life with no effort or desire to rise to a higher life—who live for the present life only. The four snakes in the walls of the well are the symbols of Anger, Vanity, Deceit and Greed.
The trunk of the tree represents the short duration of our earthly life. The two rats, black and white, represent time (our month is divided into the light half and the dark half) which exhausts our earthly duration. The bees in the honey-comb are the organs of senses - the honey drops, represent the sensuous pleasures, and the monk represent the Truth - Religion. So the whole symbol means this that the ordinary man of the world thinks he will not be cut of from life at once, satisfies himself by enjoying the sensuous pleasures derived from the senses, and does not care to receive the truths offered by true philosophy; he being influenced by sentiments of anger, vanity, deceit and greed represented by the four serpents.
The other symbol is that of seven blind men and the elephant. The seven blind men wanted to know what kind of an animal an elephant was. In that symbol the Jainas show that no one should preach that a certain religion is the whole truth. There is a Jaina saying which means that the six schools of philosophy are part and parcel of one organic whole, but if one is taken by itself, it becomes a false doctrine.
The Symbol common to all religions in India is “OM." Instead of dividing this symbol into three letters, we Jainas divide it into five: A. A. A. U. M. Of these five letters, four are vowels, the fifth being a consonant. The whole combination is sounded OM. These five letters are the first letters of five generic names of great personages. The first letter A, is the first letter of Arhut, the highest and perfected prophet, the living human being in the perfected state. While living in this world he acts as the spiritual master of his order. The second letter is the first
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