Outlines of Jainism

Author(s): S Gopalan
Publisher: Wiley Eastern Private Limited New Delhi

Page 51

JAINISM
or due to good and bad actions of men or due to god's mercy on men or due to god considering creation itself to be a play. The Jaina philosopher points out that none of the four alternatives gives us a creditable account of god as a perfect being far removed from humanity in the matter of his various endowments. Admitting god to have created the world out of his personal whim would do away with all natural laws governing the world. If good and bad actions are responsible for world-creation, god's independence would suffer, for he will then not be responsible for the good and bad experiences of men. Pointing out that out of mercy on humanity god created the world is still not a satisfactory argument since this can't account for the presence of suffering in the world. If, in this context, good and bad acts respectively are held responsible for enjoyment and suffering, god becomes a superfluous entity. The last alternative referred to signifies purposelessness on the part of god. The import of all these arguments, the Jaina philosopher maintains is that accounting for the existence of god is an absolutely hopeless task and the better alternative is to dispense with the supposition altogether. 11
Jacobi explains how the atheistic aspects of Jaina thought can be understood in its proper perspective when he writes: “Though the Jainas are undoubtedly atheistical, as we understand the term, still they would probably object to being styled atheists. While ad
ing that the world is without beginning or end, and therefore not produced by a god, or ruled by one, they recognize a highest deity (paramadevata) as the object of veneration, viz., the Jina, the teacher of the Sacred Law, who, being absolutely free from all passions and delusion, and being possessed of omniscience, has reached absolute prefection after having annihilated all his karma.”:12
The Jīnas, rather than the gods are thus worshipped and offered worship in temples, but since the Jīnas have transcended the worldly plane, they cannot really answer the prayers. Gods, who are supposed to watch and control true discipline (sasanadhisthayika devatas) hear and answer the prayers. It is in this sense that the erection of temples is justified. Underlying all the ceremonial worship in temples and erection of statues for the Jinas is the strong conviction
11 See S.N. Dasgupta, op. cit., pp. 204-206 12 Encyclopaedia of Religion & Ethics, Vol. 11, p. 187