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IS JAINISM ATHEISTIC ?
free from the cycle of birth and death. The longest period of celestial existence in the highest heaven Sarvärthasiddhi is between 32 and 33 'oceans of years' (sāgaropamas). The moment the 'gods' exhaust their good karmas because of which they attained a better status than that of the ordinary human beings, they have to come down to the earth, unless, in the meanwhile they gain the saving knowledge which enables them to come out of the vicious circle of birth and death.
The liberated souls, according to the Jaina view, go up the top of the universe and they are those who have perfected themselves absolutely and hence are those who have no longer to 'face the fall,' for they eternally remain there. They have cut themselves away from the world of life and death (saṁsāra) and so, by hypothesis cannot exert any influence over it. Hence the functions of a Supreme Ruler, Creator and Regulator cannot be attributed to them. In regard to others who are still in samsara they cannot be regarded as eternal gods. It is in this sense that the Tirthankara's is a more covetable position than that of 'god.' Attaining the status of the Tirthankara is the aim of life and the Tirthankara is the shining example to humanity, assuring it that spiritual perfection is attainable and is not merely a speculative value.
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In understanding the atheistic aspects of Jaina philosophy one other remark of Garbe regarding the gods in India is helpful. He says: "In India, recognition of these faded gods of the people has been fully reconciled with the atheistic view of the world. In the Samkhya system, belief in gods who have risen to evanescent godhead (janyeśvara, kāryeśvara) has nothing whatever to do with the question of God Eternal (nityeśvara), as regards whom the theists assume that He made the world with His will. The use of a special term (Isvara, the powerful) in Indian philosophy obviously arose out of the endeavour to distinguish this God even verbally from the shadow-like gods of the people (deva).”4
In this connection it is well to remember that even some of the orthodox systems among the six classical ones -- have been repudiating belief in God. The Nyaya and Vaiseṣika systems for example were originally atheistic and became theistic only after their fusion. The Samkhya system similarly denied the existence of
4 Ibid., p. 185
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