Jainism Not an Atheisam

Author(s): Herbert Warren
Publisher: Herbert Warren

Page 15

its proper time of producing an effect upon the persona who has generated it, and all such things as accidents socalled, disease, the actions of judges, etc., are only the instruments by which the effect is brought about, so that there is no possible need of any action by Deity, the reward or punishment following simply as effect from cause, that cause being, as already mentioned, what is called. "karma." Karma is something quite real, but unintelligent, it is a subtle matter that is attracted and assimilated by reason of certain foreign elements in the person, such as delusion, lust, anger, pride, deceitfulness, and greed which themselves are other karmas in another aspect.
Again, it might be asked by some, if God is not our creator, if he does not reward or punish us, if he renders no service to mankind nor has anything to do with man's affairs, what then can be the use of worshipping Deity ? The answer to this is that by worshipping Deity as one worships heroes, by meditating upon the attributes, the same attributes tend to become manifest in us. It is a rule that man's thoughts take the tinge of the things towards which his thoughts are directed, and by thinking of the attributes of Deity, man's condition is improved and his spiritual nature is developed and he ultimately reaches the stage where he begins to realise that the attributes of Deity are also his attributes, attributes latent in man ; but that owing to wordly desires and aversions these divine qualities are obscured in man. So that while external Deity neither gives anything to anybody nor takes away anything from anybody, still the worship of Deity is a means whereby one's own spiritual nature can be developed, and it is therefore most beneficial to worship Deity in this sense.
There is another question that might be asked, namely, if God is not the creator and ruler of the universe and does