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The Path of Arhat : A Religious Democracy
“Soul is the author of its own miscrics and happiness; Soul is its own friend and foe as the maker of good and bad deeds."
This infused self confidence and the spirit of liberty as well as equality in the common man, taught by Brahmanical clcargy to rely only on the favours of an unpredictable divinity.
To the powerful kings, out to conquer their political ene. mies, he admonished :
अप्पाणमेव जुज्झाहिं, कि ते जुज्झेण बज्झओ। अप्पाणमेव अप्पाणं, जइत्ता सुहमेहए ।। जो सहस्सय सहस्साणं, संगामे दुज्जले जिए। एगं जिणेज्ज अप्पाणं, अस से परमो जओ ।।
Uttaradhyayana-sūtra, 9/35, 34. "Oh man, (if you have to fight ) fight with your own sell; what is the use of fighting with an outside foc ? Conquer yourself by your own self. That is the supreme victory more difficult than thousand and thousands of victories in the battle fields."
Emphasising the real nature of religion, he said that real religion is not to try to please gods by sacrificial rituals and violence. Real religion is :
धम्मो मंगलमुक्किट्ठ, अहिंसा संजमो तबो । देवावि तं नमसंति, जस्स धम्मे सयामणो ।।
Dasavaikalika-sitra, 1/1. “Ahivisā ( 110n-violence ), Restraint ( of mind, speech and action) and Austerities ( religious penances ) constituie real religion which brings benedictions and freedom. Even Gods bow down to them who practise this religion."
He did not preach any sectarian doctrines and did not insist on following only a particular path. Nor did he claim to be the sole messenger of the Divine because his iheory was that Divinity is inherent in every soul. To a questioner, who wanted to know how one should behave so as not to commit any sin
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