Mahavira and his Teaching

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

Page 214

"THUS SPAKE MAHĀVĪRA”
207
If atheism means an unbelief in a life beyond, then a Jaina is not at all an atheist. If again atheism means an unbelief in the authority of the Vedas, a Jaina is, of course, an atheist. Jainism has no quarter for a creative God, accommodating at the same time the concept of godhead.
Thus spake Mahāvíra. All, excepting the Abhavyas (unredeemable), are potentially capable of attaining perfection without the God's grace or good will. Portals to emancipation are open to all. One is exclusively responsible for what one thinks, speaks, and does. Merit and not the birth is the determinant of status in society. Inherent ability and not the sex is the standard for admission into the order. Reverence for the life of all beings howsoever small and insignificant one is, is the first law of ethics. Sacrifice of the animal is to be substituted by the sacrifice of one's own brute self. For the attainment of the end the means cannot be sacrificed. One should be tolerant of the other's point of view. 'Mortify the flesh to develop the spiriť—he declared. Mahāvīra delivered his message in the tongue of the people. He led a frontal attack against priestly oligarchy, aristocratic society and mystifying thinkers of the day, In short, he lived and died for working out and propagating a virtual spiritual democracy in the form of Jainism. Without sacrificing substance, Mahāvīra reoriented the principles of Jainism traditionally received from his predecessor, Pārsva, so as to be an effective weapon with which to counteract successfully the complicated techniques employed since long by the spiritual monopolists to perpetuate their hold on the people who were passing through a crisis of faith. Mahāvīra's contribution, from this point of view, is sound and sizeable. In the world of thought, he ushered a republican era.