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Men or Gods
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worship have undergone in the various countries of the world, like the Tantric forms of worship in Tibetan Lamaism.
We have still some gods in Jaina cosmogony. They are the devas, the gods living in heavens like the Bhavanavāsi, Vyantaravāsi, Jyotiska, and Kalpavāsi. But they are a part of the Samsāra and not really gods in the sense of superior divine beings. They are just more fortunate beings than men because of their accumulated good Karma. They enjoy better empirical existence than men. But we, humans, can pride ourselves in that the gods' in these worlds cannot reach moksa unless they are reborn as human beings. They are not objects of worship. It is, therefore, necessary for us to know the true nature of man and his place in society in which he lives, moves and has his being.
NATURE OF MAN 1. Dignity and freedom of the human individual has been a common principle for all philosophies and faiths, except perhaps for Nietzsche. Marx emphasised the potentiality of man by denying God. Kant exhorted us to treat every human individual as an end in himself and never as a means. Democracies are based on the equality and dignity of every human individual. In the Mahabharata we are told that there is nothing higher than man." According to the Jainas, the individual soul, in its pure form is itself divine, and man can attain divinity by his own efforts.
2. In India, the aim of philosophy was atma vidyā. ätmanam viddhi was the cardinal injunction of the Upanişads. Yājñyavalkya explains that all worldly objects are of no value apart from the self" Today we have a new Humanism where we are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of man in this world. Philosophical interest has shifted from nature to God and from God to man. Even the claim of absolute value
12. Na mânuşāt śresthataram hi kimcit. 13. Bšho Up. 2.4.50.
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