Jainism in Bihar

Author(s): P C Roy Choudhary
Publisher: P C Roy Choudhary Patna

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CHAPTER II
JAINA RELIGION A brief outline of what Jaina religion stands for has to be indicated. Coming to a discussion of the main tenets of Jainism one has to start with the main Jaina belief that the object of life should be deliverance from the bondage of life and death which is essentially evil. The Jains believe in the inexorable effects of Karma, the principle that rules all life. Belief in Karma leads to the belief in transmigration of souls. As man can influence the law of Karma to a great extent by his daily life, his movements and his contacts, he could also liberate himself from Karma's bondage by following a particular way of life. One cannot do better than to quote from Zimmer in his 'Philosphies of India'. "Every thought and act, according to the pessimistic philosophy of the Jainas, entails an accumulation of fresh karmic substance. To go on living means to go on being active in speecb, in body or in mind ; it means to go on doing something every day. And this results in the storing up involuntarily of the "seeds” of future action, which grow and ripen into the "fruits" of our coming sufferings, joys, situations, and existences. Such "seeds" are represented as entering and lodging in the lifemonad where, in due time, they become transformed into the circumstance of life, producing success and calamity and weaving the mask-the physiognomy and character of a developing individual. The process of life itself consumes the karmic substance, burning it up like fuel, but at the same time attracts fresh material to the burning centre of vital operations. Thus the life-monad is reinfected by karma. New seeds of future fruits pour