Jaina Political Thought

Author(s): G C Pandey
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

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understood as the finite representation or mark of the infinite and eternal. Right living is thus, living in accordance with Rta or eternallaw. Rta and the will of the Gods are two aspects of the same reality. Gods do not will arbitrarity and the primordiallawimplicit in their will is merely their nature
as it forms the ground of determination and regulation. In this sense it is the true natural law.4
Being and power, law and wisdom,coalesce at the divine level. At the human level, however, neither is natural wisdom equal to natural law nor will always guided by wisdom. Man, thus, needs to be educated and guided and to be practically reminded of the law. To act rightly man has to act in accordance with the celestial paradigms. He must think of the Gods and act in conformity with their ways. The sacrifice was conceived as the representation of the primal creative act of the Gods. The creation of the world represents an act of self sacrifice by the divine person. All human acts have to be basically acts of self-sacrifice, so that they may be in tune with cosmic creativity and the order of social life may conform to cosmic order. Right living and ritual living thus tend to coincide.
Ritual reminded men of their role in organized social life and gave validity and authority to social organisation itself by linking the natural and instinctive life of man with the divine and supernaturalorder For example, the ritual of marriage transforms it into religious and moralact, something which lies beyond the mere living together of a man and woman by liking or consent. The ritual is not a mere proclamation of any natural fact, of a habitual situation, of consent or of social recognition or approval. Whether a habitual relation or consent, individual or social, that will still remain a merely natural fact. The mere inclination of the mind through desire or calculation, simply or in agreement with others, does not lift any action or relation above the natural or merely causal-temporal plane. Ritual, on the other hand, gives it a sacred character, conferring authority and obligation, not in accordance with natural powers but in accordance with what is right. Ritual accomplishes this task by representing what is right and its efficacy depends on the actual immanence of the transcendent divine.
Ritual consecration is no different in the case of economic life. Agriculture, for example, was required to be preceded and followed by appropriate rites; not for magical effect but for the appropriation of technological activity within the consciousness of value. Doubtless, magical effects find mention in ancient texts but they are merely a variety of arthavada, the real consequence of ritual being transcendental. Magical
ects may actually exist. Some popular aceretions of ritual may even represent primitive science. Nevertheless, the purpose of farming ritual is not to gain a gratuitous bonus but to correctly orient the farmer, to
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