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own destiny. There is nothing as fate or destiny, which is supreme. Men are masters of their own destinies. Self-effort is the main cause of the success of our work or the failure, as it may be. The principle of freedom of the will is the basis of this theory.
The Jaina View: Jaina maintains that the things of this world and activities are complex, and as they are complex, we cannot explain the cause of the things and activities with reference to one or other cause like: kāla, niyati, svabhāva and puruṣārtha. We have to find out the causes and the predominance of one or another in the complexity of things. It is necessary to introspect and find out the cause of happiness and misery within oneself.
Ācārya Siddhasena Divākara says that it is not proper to give importance to one of the five causes like, kāla, svabhāva, niyati, karma and puruṣārtha and to involve the other. A phenomenon or an event is complex and all the cause may operate in various degrees."
Ācārya Haribhadra says 'we have to take synoptic view of things and look at these problems from the point of view of anekānta (many-sided approach). "Ācārya Samantabhadra says that we have to seek the cause for the effect form without any individual efforts in fate or destiny. But self-effort and conscious efforts make towards attaining a goal makes us give importance of purușa for understanding the result in activities. In some cases (daiva) destiny plays an important role and in some other way puruṣārtha also plays an equally important role. 15
Jaina do not accept the predominance of Isvara for explaining the living and non-living substances of the Universe. It would be fruitless to believe that īśvara or Brahman is the primary cause of the origination, maintenance and destruction of the
''Sanmati-tarka-prakarana, 3.53 14 Šāstravārattāsamuccaya, 191-192
Aptamīmāṁsā, kārikā, 88-91
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