Jinamanjari 2002 04 No 25

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 63

contents are limited. Therefore, it is impossible to satisfy everyone's desire.
In the interest of the individual and the society it is, therefore, necessary to prescribe limits to the possessions of an individual. But when this is forced from above by the state, without the moral and active support of the people or a large class of them, it leads to the adoption of unscrupulous business methods and even the demoralization of the administrative machinery itself. Therefore, the policing must be done by inward reflection into one's own conscience; to induce him not to hold for himself what he really does not need. And if he happens to get more in his ordinary honest way of life, he should devote the surplus to charitable purposes like medical relief, spread of education, measures against loss of life and feeding the hungry.
Limited as the material resources of the earth are, they are sufficient for the needs and reasonable comforts of all, provided they are property distributed and utilized. One cannot fail to recognize in this vow (aparigraka) a very quiet and peaceful attempt at economic equalization by discouraging undue accumulation of capital in individual hands. It is, however, no fault of the religion itself if such noble principles have frequently been recognized in their violation rather than in their observance. At the same time, it cannot be denied that the vow has created in the Jaina community a very charitable disposition as a result of which large amounts of money are devoted every year to deeds of philanthropy and so many charitable institutions are being permanently financed by the community.
Yet another principle of Jainism might be mentioned here. Jainism does not preach that there is any special power ruling over the destinies of men from behind or above. On the contrary, it teaches that every individual works out his own destiny by his own mental and physical exertions, which generate energies that bring to him an agreeable or disagreeable experience. This is the theory underlying the principle of karma in Jainism, which has been worked out in great detail. According to this principle, nothing will come without effort; no action will go without its appropriate result. It makes each individual fully responsible for his progress or decay -- a sort of complete individual autonomy. The Jainas do not worship a creator God or destroyer God of the universe, but those great saints whom they believe have come to know the ultimate truth and to have preached it to humanity. These saints they call the Tirthankaras, that is, those who made it easy for others to cross over the ocean of life.
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