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Jaina Philosophy and Religion
căritrāņi mokşamārgaḥ, that is, ‘right faith (inclination, insight), right cognition and right conduct—these three combined are the means of liberation.'
As stated above, right faith (inclination, outlook) is the strong and firm foundation of good conduct. It is so because right or good conduct is cultivated on the basis of right faith. 'As is the faith, so is the world'. However great may be the development of knowledge or intellect, but if the faith (outlook, attitude or inclination) is wrong, evil or perverse, that knowledge or intellect will be misused. And if the faith is right, good or
olesome, whatever little knowledge be there, it will be used rightly. It is faith that directs knowledge this way or that way. So, the question of its rightness or otherwise is of utmost importance.
If the faith is right, both the knowledge and the conduct will become right. And if it is wrong, both the knowledge and the conduct will become wrong. Therefore, it is accorded the first place in the enumeration of the means of liberation and considered supreme among them. This is the reason why Maharsi Umāsvāti mentions it first in the aphorism which enumerates the three means of liberation. This shows that rightness of knowledge and conduct depends on the rightness of faith.
It is not that right faith (inclination or attitude) is gained only through the study of philosophy or scriptures. Any person belonging to any country, caste or creed, or even if he be dull-witted and illiterate', can gain it, provided his soul, i.e., his heart is soft, compassionate and friendly towards all living beings. Some good persons gain it without the help of external conditions like instruction, etc. In other words, in them it manifests itself spontaneously or naturally, i.e., merely on account of internal contemplative thought or spiritual capacity. On the other hand, some require external aids like instruction, etc. for its manifestation.
Some practical matters about right faith (attitude) are given below:
yā deve devatābuddhir gurau ca gurutāmatiḥ/ dharme ca dharmadhi śuddhā samyaktvam idam ucyate//2 Translation: To regard, with pure intellect, real God as real God, real teacher as real teacher and true religion as true religion is right faith.
In other words, a person possessed of right faith (attitude) has the
1. Even some fortunate animals can also attain it. 2. Yogaśāstra, Acārya Hemacandra, II.2.
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