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all austerities (tapa-s) and all rituals etc., for action; the system of multiple view-points (syadvada) for expression; the operation of Karma theory' in which karma-pudgala-karma vargana-karma prakriti without frown or favour in any situation for total and impartial justice; the principle of infinite number of separate souls evolving from Nigoda at the bottom attaining to the final and topmost exulting state of Siddhahood in the region of Siddha-Shila and the existence of the universe from eternity to eternity uncreated by a so-called God. According to Acharya Yashastilaka, Samyak Darshana is the prime cause of salvation just as the foundation is the mainstay of the palace, good luck that of beauty, like that of bodily eojoyments, royal power that of victory, culture that of nobility and policy that of government.
Question : How does God in Jainism differ from the general concept?
Answer : The general concept is: God is All. The Jaina concept is : God is All minus His being the Creator of the universe. The General concept is God the Being, the Jaina concept is God the Becoming, and also the Being and the Be-ness i. e. both the Manifest and the Unmanifest plus more : Eternal purest Consciousness with infinite perception, knowledge, power and bliss. In Jaina literature, however, a greater stress is placed on the God as manifested in multiple forms, each a separate whole. In essence God is One, the Existence, the Satya from sat 'that which alone exists' : in forms God is plural, multiple. In the final analysis, the whole thing is mere verbal acrobatics as God is lived, not seen; felt and described; experienced not expressed. He is the Essential Inexpressible Experience brought down to the level of expression comprehensible to only a few to whom the words are addressed and alone are mentally capable of understanding that particular word-frame. The universe contains certainly a far larger number of such groups.
