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JAINISM By VIVIDUS
(Ramnik V. Shah) In JAINISM by VIVIDUS, the author has outlined some of the major features of Jainism, which are refreshingly different from other systems in their speculative content. Here are a few of them : 1. There are TWO REALITIES in the uni
verse: Life and Non-life; the former becoming GOD on total emancipation from the latter; and not only ONE Life, of which everything else is either a creation or a manifestation striving towards union with that ONE as the
ultimate objective for its existence. 2. GOD is neither the Creator nor the
Destroyer of the Universe, which is eternal and self-created as a result only of the interplay of these two realities. Every individual is responsible for the creation of his body and the like. Godhood is latent in every individual who becomes GOD on emancipation after destroying all Karmas (non-life), and it is this GOD who becomes the subject of worship by common people. This GOD is different from GOD who is eternally
free and was never in bondage. 3. Life: All souls are intrinsically equal,
having innate qualities of perfect consciousness, knowledge, perception, power and bliss. It is from this equality that the concept of nonviolence is born. All souls are separate individuals, never merging into one another.
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