Jaina View of Life

Author(s): T G Kalghatgi
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur

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GENERAL EDITORIAL
In this brochure are presented eight essays on different aspects of Jainism. The Anekanta attitude is really the saviour of philosophical positions which are being pushed to the brink of extinction by extremists. Syādvāda and Nayavāda, the two wings of Anekānta, are the effective instruments for bringing out the secrets of reality by reconciling extreme alternatives. Jainism accepts both Spirit and Matter as real. The spirit or Ātman has been subjected to deeper analysis in the three-fold distinction of bahir-, antar- and parama-ā tman. It is an embodiment of knowledge, the fivefold classification (mati, sruta, avadhi, manaḥparyaya and kevala) of which is of special interest for an epistemologist. The concept of Kevala-jñana envisages an ideal type of knowledge for the functioning of which there are no temporal and spatial limits. Karma, as conceived in Jainism, is a subtle variety of matter which is in association with spirit from beginningless time. It has evolved itself into an automatically functioning Law and shapes the destiny of the spirit. It is by the termination of the Karmic association through austere life and self-concentration that the Ātman passes through various stages of spiritual progress (gunasthana) and attains its innate nature, the fullest effulgence of knowledge. This course of progress is the veritable path of religion, full of rigorous discipline in thought, word and act : this constitutes the ethical code of Jainism, based on Ahimsa which is the highest criterion for judging the mutual relations in the realm of living beings. It is by correctly understanding reality and by leading the life of self-discipline, according to the stage to which one belongs, that one realizes the highest spiritual status, summum bonum.
Thus it will be seen how these essays, though independent in themselves, have an inherent connection between them. They give us in brief the Jaina View of Life and should enable