Jainism Some Essays

Author(s): A S Gopani
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 10

Jaina Religion
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to acquire the Ātma Vidyā. This indicates that the śramaņic traditions influenced the Brāhmaṇas on account of their spiritual strength and not because of the physical. This happened to such an extent that the self or the soul, and not the sacrifice, occupied a predominant place in the Brāhmaṇic civilization during the Upanişadic and post-upanişadic periods. This was the time of the synthesis of the Brāhmanic and Sramanic civilizations. It was the time of Bhagawan Mahāvira and Buddha. As a result of this synthesis, the Sramaņas received much from the Brāhmaṇas and the Brāhmaṇas from the Sramaņas. The Brahma, which formerly meant sacrifice or its sacred formulac or panegyrics, was now equated with self or soul. The Sramadas gave the name of Aryas to the best of their people and called thir own religion as the religion of the Aryas. The concept of sacrifice was accepted by the Sramanas also but they gave it spiritual connotation. They experienced dignity in addressing the Sramaņas, the members of their group, as Brāhmanas and to their code of conduct, they gave the name of Brahmacarya or Brahmavihāra—the "sojourn unto the Brahma". Tne Brāhmaṇas meant by Brahmacarya the studies of the Vedas, while the Sramaņas interpreted it as a form of conduct involving spiritual exercises. In the Brahmanic ideology there was no accommodation for the concept of renunciation or emancipation. But they borrowed it from the Sramanas and completely absorbed it in their own formulary. According to the Brāhmaņas the gods such as Indra and others were superior in physical strength and were also the objects of worship for the men while the Sramaņas knew them and described them as the worshippers or the servants of the Jinas who were human beings On the other hand, the Brāhmaṇas gave up the worship of Indra and others and adopted that of the self or soul. Physical strength was substituted by spiritual strength. In short, Indra was replaced by soul. In sum, the religion of the Brāhmaṇas was now known as the religion of the Brahma or Soul. This attitude of synthesis put both--the Brāhmaṇas and Sramaņas - on the road to development. The line of distinction which divided them consisted of belief or non-belief in the Vedas, meaning thereby that those who believed in the authority of the Vedas were considered advocates or adherents of the Vedic or the Brāhmanic traditions and those who did not so believe or who took the Jinas, born on this earth from time to time, as authorities, were known as the śramaņas. Śramanic Traditions
Just as there is a variety of views in the Vedic school, there is also so in the Sramanic school. Just as various interpretations as regards Vedic teachings gave rise to a number of schools or sects in the Brāhmanic system, the same phenomenon worked with uniformity in the case of Sramanic