Mahavira and his Teaching

Author(s): C C Shah, Rishabhdas Ranka, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Bhagwan Mahavir 2500th Nirvan Mahotsava Samiti

Page 108

bhavas? The uniqueness of bhavyatva probably holds the key to unravelling the mystery that surrounds the problem of predestination in Jainism.
BHAVYATVA AND ABHAVYATVA
Certain theistic systems profess multiple categories of souls, as for instance Calvin's distinction between the salvable and the damned, or, in the Indian context, Madhva's tripartite classification, namely, salvable (Muktı-yogya), ever-transmigrating (nitya-samsārın) and damnable (tamo-yogya). The doctrine of predestination in these systems is a corollary of the belief in the omnipotent power of the Creator God. The determining factor here, namely, the Grace of the Almighty God, or His sovereign power of Election, lies outside and independent of the human soul. The Madhva doctrine of mukti, for instance, has as its foundation the famous Katha Upamṣat text in which Yama declares to the aspirant Naciketas:
"By him alone can He be won whom He elects:
To him this Self reveals His own true form".3
Salvation in these schools is not to be won by exertion, not even by devout faith, but is a divine gift flowing from the free choice of the Deity.
2.
How does an atheistic system like Jainism (or Buddhism) account for salvation? Tirthankaras may be omniscient (sarvajña) human beings, able and willing to teach; but they are not omnipotent like the God of the theists who withholds or effects the salvation of His own creation, at His sweet and unimpeded 1. See Emil Brunner: The Christian Doctrine of God (on the history of the doctrine of predestination, pp. 340 ff.), The Westminister Press, 1949 B. N. K. Sharma: Philosophy of Sri Madhvacārya, Bharatiya
Vidya
3.
101
Bhavan, Bombay, 1962.
nā yam ātmā pravacanena labhyo
na medhaya na bahuna śrutenal
yam evaisa vṛunute tena labhyaḥ
tasyaiṣa ātmā vivṛṇute tanum svām//Kathopanisat II, 23.
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