Kesarimalji Surana Abhinandan Granth

Author(s): Nathmal Tatia, Dev Kothari
Publisher: Kesarimalji Surana Abhinandan Granth Prakashan Samiti

Page 1233

RIGHTNESS OF ACTION AND JAINA ETHICS
Dr. KAMAL CHAND SOGĀNI. Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Udaipur, UDAIPUR
He who lives in society inevitably asks himself and others on many occasions in life, «What shall I do in a particular situation ?' or Whether I ought to do or ought not to do certain actions ?' Many a time we have been told, 'What you have done is wrong.' You ought not to have done this.'
Sometimes, the answer to such questions and determination of such decisions are announced by resorting to the moral code of a particular social group. In consequence, it may be said that an action is wrong if it does not conform to the moral code in question. Particular actions are to be performed in a particular situation, inasmuch as they are enjoined by a particular moral code of the community. But an impartial reflective mind cannot be satisfied with such subjective decisions, regarding the rightness or wrongness of doing certain actions.
Besides, moral codes may conflict and what is considered right according to one moral code may be regarded as wrong according to the other moral code. For instance, in accordance with one moral code untouchability is right, whereas in accordance with the other moral code untouchability is wrong. In one moral code meat-eating is forbidden, while in the other, it is enjoined. The situation is worsened when two parts of the moral code of a community prescribe contradictory performances to be right or wrong. All this means that moral codes cannot be relied upon as a sure guide to the rightness of an action.
Of course, I do not wish to deny that there may be moral codes which prescribe universal rules of conduct, but even then it cannot be said that 'right' and 'wrong' could be defined in terms of conformity or otherwise to the moral code of a particular society. The reflective mind is not convinced of the reason for an action's being write or wrong in terms of a moral code. In fact, he is concerned with the criterion of the rightness of actions. He wishes to enquire the ground on which the rightness of actions depends.
In Jaina terminology it may be asked : 'How do we regard an action as Samyaka ? By what standard an action is judged to be Samyaka ? It will not be out of place to point out here that the term Samyaka-action in Jaina Ethics is not equivalent to the term right action in