Jainism

Author(s): Vallabh Smarak Nidhi
Publisher: Vallabh Smarak Nidhi

Page 26

21
Pandit Sukhlalji, one of the greatest living authorities on Indian religion and philosophy, has very lucidly summed up the basic difference between these cultures:
Brahmanism or the ancient Vedic movement was established on the attitude of inequality while the latter [Shramanism) was based on the attitude of equality. This basic difference is obvious in these three respects, viz, concerning society, concerning the end to be achieved and concerning the outlook towards living creatures."
Both Jainism and Buddhism deny the authority of the Vedas, reject priestcraft and the rigidity of the caste system based on birth, deify the human soul, follow the doctrine of Ahimsa more earnestly than others and stress ethical standards. But other tenets of theirs differ, as do also their literature and their history.
Jainism accepts the existence of the eternal, nonmaterial soul which persists through all changes and migrates from one body to another until finally liberated. Buddhism, denying the existence of such a soul, believes in an unbro
9 Jaina Dharma Ka Prana p. 1