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Society in Jaina Philosophy and Literature
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ethnocentric and culture specific, but it is universal or global due to mutual relations and interactions with all the living beings of the world. Human society is a part of that larger global society. When bird flu or mad cow diseases expand in a country all the human beings become terrorized with its effect on them. At subtle level all beings of the world are inter-connected. This broad thinking of Jaina religion and philosophy makes a human society vigilant to the whole universe. But in narrow sense Jainism talks about the human society also. It considers all human beings equal without discrimination of caste, creed and colour. Human society is only one," as says Jinasena in his Adipurāņa. The Jaina philosophy accepts society as real and suggests reformations to eradicate the evils prevalent at the different times. It accepts that self-purification is not possible without the right attitude of kindness (anukampā) towards the all beings of the world."
Metaphysics, ethics and the epistemology of Jaina philosophy are correlated with society. The Jaina system has discussed the independence of every soul and their mutual relationship. The Jaina theory of karma, the theory of nonabsolutism (anekāntavāda) and the ethics of religious giving (dāna), polite conduct (vinaya), service (vaiyāvrtya), forgiveness (kşamā), friendliness (maitrī) elucidate the concept of society in Jainism. The discussion of varņa-vyavasthā and saņskāras in Ādipūrāņa, Anagāradharmāmrta, Yaśastilakacampu and in Ācāradinakara seems the impact of
$AP 38.45: manuşyajātirekaiva jātināmodayādbhavā. ** Anukampā is a characteristic of samyagdarśana without which a path of liberation does not proceed ahead. There are five characteristics of amyagdarśana as: sama, samvega, nirveda, anukampā and ästikya. (TB: 1.2).
