Jaina View of Life

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

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antiquity of Jainism as reflecting the Pre-Aryan thought of the upper class of North-Eastern India has now been established beyond dispute. Jaina tradition is unanimous in making Rşabha the first Tirthankara as the founder of Jainism. Long before the Āryans reached the Ganges or even Sarasvati, Jainism, had been taught by prominent saints or Tirthařkaras, prior to the historical twentythird Pārsva of the eighth or ninth century B. C. Many Western scholars like Jacobi, Vincent Smith, Furlong and Zimmer have accepted the Pre-Aryan prevalence of Jainism. Radhakrishnan accepts the view that Jainism prevailed in India even before Pārsva and Vardhamāna, the last two Tirthańkaras. Hiralal Jain has interpreted the mention of Keši and Keši Rşabha in the Rgveda as referring to the first Tirtharikara. When Buddhism arose Jainism was already an ancient sect with its strong hold near about Vaigāli which was visited and admired by Buddha.
The Anekānta outlook of the Jainas pervades their entire philosophy and life. The whole texture of Jaina philosophy and ethics is woven in the Anekānta attitude. We have accordingly analysed in this treatise some of the conceptions in Jaina philosophy and ethics as reflecting the Anekānta outlook. Jiva has been considered from the noumenal and the phenomenal points of view. From the noumenal point of view it is pure and perfect, and from the phenomenal it is the agent and the enjoyer of fruits of Karma. Our experience can be graded into levels as the sense and the supersensuous experience. Jiva in its empirical existense is involved in the wheel of Samsāra through the Yoga (activity). This involvement is beginningless, though it has an end. The end is freedom from the wheel of life and the attainment of Mokşa. For this we have to remove the Karma that has accrued to the soul. The Jainas have worked out an elaborate theory of Karma almost making it a science. The Anekānta view pervades the analysis of Karma. Karma is substantive force. It is material in nature. It consists of fine particles of matter which are glued to the soul as sout to the surface of the mirror. The influx of Karma leads to bondage