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The Path of Arhat : A Religious Democracy
were still others who believed in Isvaravada', i. e, belief in some outside force called God who is the final arbitrator of soul's destiny. All these theories, more or less, ruled out the belief that man's destiny is largely in his own hands.
Mahavira's approach - Mahavira's attitude towards all problems - physical or metaphysical — has remained that of ‘Syadvăda' which exhorts us to look at a question from every angle, and not to reject any proposition summarily and wholly because every truth is relative and every proposition is likely to be true from a particular angle and in particular circumstances. He, therefore, tried to synthesise all prevailing thoughts and advanced his own theory of cause and effect by assimilating the partial truth contained in each theory. Broadly stating, he said that though it is true that each event occurs at its own time and according to its own nature, it would be a mistake to rule out a change which can be brought about by one's own will and exertions. While doing so, he did not accept the contention of Yadşcchāvādins' that one can act of his own free-will and chalk out his path. His theory of karma (cause and effect) recognised that some of the karmas, which you have earned in your past lives, do bring their fruits in this life which cannot be avoided and which you have got to suffer, but even here, you can mitigate the rigour of the result by your own efforts. However, according to him once you recognise that you are reaping the fruits of your own actions, your future is always in your own hands. If your present is partly or wholly the result of your past, there should be no difficulty in believing that your future is also partly or wholly the result of your present. Thus Mahāvīra evolved a systematized syenthesis of the theories of 'free-will', 'determinism', 'Kalavada' and 'Svabha vavada', and rationalised the theory of Karma. Psychological Approach of Mahavira
By "action' Mahavira did not mean only those things which are physically and ostensibly done, but included even
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