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JAINISM: A THEISTIC PHILOSOPHY "GOD IN JAINISM"
The Yoga philosophy subscribes to Sāmkhya theory in Toto. It however appears to hold that Purușa or soul by himself cannot easily acquire that sāttvika development which leads to knowledge and bliss. A particular kind of Īśvara or Supreme God is therefore added for the purpose of contemplation etc. to the twenty-five categories of the Sāṁkhya. This circumstance has obtained for Yoga the name of Seśvara Sāṁkhya or theistic Sāṁkhya as the Sāṁkhya proper is called Nirīśvara Sāṁkhya or atheistic Sāṁkhya.
Sāṁkhya proposes highly practical rules acquiring Samādhi leading to Kaivalya. Yoga and Samādhi are convertible terms, meaning Cittavịtti-nirodha or suspension of the transformations of the thinking principle.
The Sāmkhya affirms that existence of an eternal God cannot be established by proof. The eternal existence of the Puruşa is inconsistent with the infinity and creatorship of God. Praksti evolves into the world by coming into relation with puruṣa, but the Sāṁkhya does not clearly and categorically explain how this relationship is brought about. The Yoga school says that this brought about by the agency of God. The concept of God is thus an extraneous graft on the Yoga system. The Yoga, although, included in the six systems of Indian philosophy, an orthodox classification is has nothing to do with the philosophical speculation.o2
The Yoga is essentially consisting of ancient practices and not any specific philosophy. The practices, which are considered belongs to primitive times in the ecstatic rites and magical practices of the prehistoric people for acquiring supernatural powers through the most strenuous methods, and this primitive heritance was molded in religious doctrines and philosophical conceptions.
The Yoga system is called the theistic (seśvara) Sāṁkhya as distinguished from Kapila Sāṁkhya, which is generally regarded as atheistic (nirīśvara). It holds that God is the perfect being who is
61 Yogsūtra, 1.1 62Dr. N.N. Bhattacharya, “Jain philosophy, Historical outline”, P-211 & 212 63 Ibid, P-212
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