Jaina Philosophy and Religion

Author(s): Nyayavijay
Publisher: B L Institute of Indology

Page 63

Essentials of Jaina Philosophy
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somewhere, because this is the way of all progression. Just as magnitude is subject to varying degrees and consequently reaches its highest limit in the sky, so also knowledge which is subject to progressive development owing to various degrees of dissociation of the covering of the karma, reaches the highest limit (omniscience) in some person. That person is called 'omniscient' (sarvajña), 'all-seer' (sarvadars), and his knowledge is designated 'kevala-jñāna' (pure knowledge). The soul can totally remove the defilements of attachment and aversion and consequently can gain absolute purity. And through this perfect purity the light of infinite knowledge manifests itself in all its infinity.
God is not World-creator One of the Jaina doctrines is that God is not the creator of the world. The Jaina scriptures contend that in the worldly cycle of birth and death, revolving by the force of karmas, there can be no place for the creatorship of God, who, according to the Jaina, is absolutely free from attachment and desires. The entire world constituted of the sentient and insentient substances is governed by the laws of Nature. Pleasures and pains experienced by a living being depend on the material traces (karmas) left by the acts performed by it. Absolutely pure and attachment-free God is not pleased with some, nor is He displeased with others. This is because He is supreme soul with no taint or defilement whatsoever and absolutely free from attachment.
Worship of God Necessary Regarding the doctrine of God as not world-creator, there arises a question: What is the use of worshipping such God? That is, if God is free from attachment and consequently is neither pleased nor displeased, then what is the use of worshipping Him? But the Jaina philosophers say that worship of God is not to please Him, but to purify one's own self. It is highly useful and spiritually beneficial to worship God who is absolutely free from attachment and aversion. One should worship such God in order to cleanse one's own soul of attachment and aversion—the only cause of all miseries. The soul is by nature as pure as a crystal. But it is highly tainted with the defilements of attachment, aversion, delusion and desires. The pure crystal assumes the red colour of the red flower placed in its vicinity. Similarly, the soul gets tainted with attachment and aversion