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The Doctrine of Karma in Jaina Philosophy
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short of perfection. His efforts are to be directed to the attainment of this highest end. The universe is, in the words of Tennyson, a vale of soul-making and not a pleasure garden.
V. Therefore, the Karma theory is an explanation of the moral justice in the universe. It is the conception of an all controlling law of natural retribution which links together the successive earth lives of each individual soul. It ‘satisfied my sense of justice and threw light on the problem of unmerited suffering'*6 For the modern European varieties of Karma theory, 'It is not the mechanical idea of an identical soul-substance passing form body to body, but the mystical idea of suffering with and for others', that forms the real attraction of the doctrine. And perhaps that may be the true explanation of its ascendancy in the East as well.
Judged by the historic standards, the Karma theory did much to raise man's status and to wean him from coaxing gods through sacrifice and prayer. It insisted on individual expiation, and emphasised the moral continuity of life here and hereafter. 57
Karma is in fact a striking answer to the 'fathomless injustice to the nature of things and it appeals to the overpowering sense of the necessity of justice. The conception of an all controlling law of natural retribution which links together the successive earth lives of each individual soul, both satisfied my sense of justice and threw light on the problem of seemingly unmerited suffering.68
Having discussed the arguments and counter arguments of the logical justification of the doctrine of Karma, we may say
55. A. Seth Fringle-Pattison : The Idea of Immortality, p. 122. 56. Paul C. S.: The Suffering God (1929), p. 67. 57. Holmes (Edmond): The Quest of an Ideal, p. 98. as quoted in The
Idea of Immortality by Seth-Pringle-Pattison, p. 120. 58. Warren (H. C.): Buddhism in Translations (1922) p. 48.
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