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The Path of Arhat: A Religious Democracy
Is Jainism atheistic? Before answering this question, it would be necessary to know what is 'atheistic'. If theism consists only in the belief in a personal or impersonal God as creator and sustainer of this universe, then certainly Jainism is atheistic as it does not believe that this universe is created and shaped by some personal or impersonal entity called God. Nor do the Jainas believe that rendition of justice for the good or bad deeds of human beings is at the mercy of some capricious will or whim of the Divine.
Approach of Jaina philosophers to this question is purely rational. While they flatly reject the notion of a supremely authoritative God, it does not reject God-head itself. It studies the component elements of the whole Universe, scrutinises the true nature and character of each, analyses their effect on the evolution of life, tries to find out the ultimate goal of the progression, and by a very subtle and logical process of metaphysics, shows the way to achieve God-hood. It has innate faith in the capacity of the spirit, the creative force called 'Atman' to achieve God-hood and makes no distinction between the potentiality of the creative force inherent in a blade of grass and the one inherent in humanly frame of Mahavira, the last and the most distinguished Tirthankara (Prophet) of our times, to achieve the final God hood. It emphasises that the achievement of God-hood does not depend upon the favours of any agency outside your own self, and each soul (Atman) can achieve the same by his own understanding and efforts. What is required is the will to exert.
'Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics' makes distinction between naive atheism and philosophical atheism. If this distinction is accepted, one can say that Jainism believes in philosophical atheism. This is obviously different from gross materialism. The difference consists in the Jaina conviction, an outcome of a serious philosophical speculation, and not a
1. Garbe, R. (Ed.): Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. II, p. 185.
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