Sambodhi 2007 Vol 31

Author(s): J B Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 68

62
MUKUL RAJ MEHTA
SAMBODHI
Jaina ethics have a theological basis as in the case of the Vedic tradition. The contrast with Buddhism, again, is worth mentioning. For the Buddhists right and wrong are dispositions of the will and are discoverable by anyone in terms of the emotional tone which accompanies the acts of the will. Ethics here has a purely psychological basis. The Akusala hetus or wrong motives are parallel to the Kasayas of the Jainas but whereas the Jainas look forward to the soul realizing its true nature, the Buddhists deny the soul itself and are left with a classification of psychic states on the basis of their intrinsic nature as good and evil.
Explaining the concept of Himsa, Prof. Pande tells that the forcible, and distorting impact of the activity of one substance upon another is the basic meaning of violence. Matter does violence to the soul by obscuring its faculties and leading it in time to participate in a similar species of causal activity in relation to other souls. This activity being an activity of the soul, has a necessary moral character while being of the nature of forcible intervention in the being of other souls, regardless of their feelings or nature becomes ethically evil. This is 'Himsa,' an activity of the soul induced by matter and heedless of the true nature the soul and of the sameness of this nature for all the souls.
Prof. Pande justifies the Jaina rejection of God by describing Jaina point of view. He mentions that freedom, immortality and God represent three necessary presuppositions of morality. Freedom and immortality are obviously well preserved in Jainism. God, however, is rejected, His place being taken up, partly by Karma and partly by the perfected soul in the state of omniscience and functioning as a moral teacher. The theory of Karma postulates a sufficient causal connection between present good and evil actions and their distant consequences in terms of happiness and unhappiness. This connection in the absence of an all powerful divine agency remains mysterious to the understanding. Of the two functions of God for the moral life, viz. ensuring a just order where men get their deserts and presenting a realized moral ideal of perfection, while the first function is thus reserved for 'Karma' in Jaina theory, the second is performed by the soul itself in its ideal of perfect state, exemplified objectively in the lives of the saints. The normal danger of the acceptance of God in theistic religion is that it slackens the moral will and effort on account of the sense of sin or diffidence or the desire to rely on God and place one's burden on Him. This danger is altogether avoided by Jainism which makes a clarion call for total self-reliance "You are your own friend.