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Jaina View of Life
agent in this world. We refuse to be treated as things. Moreover, it is good to tell men, though it is unpleasant to do so, that they are alone responsible for their present state. To put the responsibility on the individual is hard truth. And Radhakrishnan says that Karma is not so much a principle of retribution as one of continuity.sa
5. Some have said that the doctrine of Karma leads to unbridled individualism. It fails to see that we all belong to a community, that there is what is called 'joint Karma', corporate sin or guilt. It allows the fortunate ones to boast of their self merited happiness'.58 Explanation for the inequality is referred to the 'vicarious suffering'. The ethical justice is to be found in the crucification of Christ; and the Cross is a symbol of taking over the sufferings of man upon oneself so as to lighten the sufferings of man.
But according to the Jainas, as also in other Indian thought, except in the Cārvāka, self-realization is to be attained through a moral effect which is essentially social in its content. We have seen that the Jaina ethics is essentially social in its significance. Mokşa is to be attained through the practice of goodness, charity, compassion and humility, although the Mokşa is attained by one who practises the virtues and the three-fold noble path. It is, therefore, more accurate to say that Karma theory awakens a man to his responsibilities to himself and to others, and does not make him isolated and self-centred.
We may also add that Karma does not imply a hedonistic outlook on life. Reward for pleasure is not a life of pleasure nor is the punishment for sin, pain. The theoly is not to be confused with hedonistic or a judicial theory of rewards and punishments.64 Pleasure and pain are determinants of animal experience, but for human life the end to be attained is nothing
52. Radhakrishnan (S): Idealist View of Life, (1961) p. 218 53. Sigfrid Estborn. : The Christian Doctrine of Salvation, (1958), p. 70 54. Radhakrishnan (S): Idealist View of Life, p. 219.
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