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JAINISM AND DEMOCRACY
something different from the seeker but his own essential nature and salvation meant realization or attainment of that nature.
But later the notion about God changed. It came to be regarded as a supernatural being, Almighty and omniscient being, controlling the entire universe. The relation between Him and the devotee became that of a. King and the subject. The latter approached him trembling prayerful and asking his forgiveness. In this period religion did not mean an action but a prayer to please the Almighty. No seeker could attain Him or get an identification with Him. It was sufficient, if the devotee gets the place of a servant in his royal court. The deyotional poetry of the 18th century and afterwards presents the same picture. Here God in the form of Krishana or Rama is described as laughing, talking with damsels and engaged in amarous sexual pleasures and this discription was the main theme of religion without any spiritual, moral or ethical consideration in it. Philosophy :
Before Christ and a few centuries after philosophy has been a guiding force. Religion i.e. the way of life was guided by Darshana i.e. the view of life. The Upanishads, the Scriptures of Jainism and Buddhism, the Mahabharata, Yogavasista, the. Bhawagwatagita, Tantras and Puranas introduce this type of philosophy. The Kenopanishad identified knowing with becoming. But after the 5th century its contact with life deteriorated. Scholars indulged more and more in lifeless
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