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Chapter V
DOCTRINE OF BONDAGE & MOKSHA
MAIN OBJECTIVE OF EARLY JAINISM
Before discussing the early metaphysics or epistemology of Jainas, it would be proper to discuss the main objective of early Jainism and its attitude towards life, which is to get rid of the cycle of birth and death and thus, to emancipate man from sufferings. It tries to track down sufferings to their very root. The famous Jaina text of an early period Uttarādhyayana Sūtra (32/19) says: kamanugiddhippabhavam khu dukkham
savvassa logassa sadevagassa. jam kaiyam manasiyam ca kinci
tassa antagam gacchai viyarago.
The root of all physical as well as mental sufferings of everybody is the desire for enjoyment. Only a dispassionate attitude can put an end to them. It is true that materialism seeks to eliminate sufferings, through the fulfilment of human desires, but it cannot eradicate the prime cause from which the stream of suffering wells up. Materialism does not have at its disposal an effective means for quenching the thirst of a man permanently. Not only this, its attempts at the temporary appeasement of a yearning, have the opposite effect of flaring it up like the fire fed by an oblation of butter. It is clearly noted in the Uttaradhyayana Sūtra: suvanna-rupassa u pavvayabhave siya hu kelasasama asamkhaya. narassa iuddhassa na tehim kinci
iccha u agasasama anantiya. (9/48)
191 Jainism and its History
