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142 1: Śramana January-June 2002
soul has to enjoy the fruits of the karmas in the life or in subsequent lives. There is no salvation until the soul stops the influx of karmas and gets rid of existing karmas and this it will have to do by its own delibrate efforts without expecting any help from an outside agency. Dr. Krause rightly said that Jainism trains the individual to become a true hero on the battlefield of self-conquest.31
There is no use in asking the favour of God or of his representative because Jainism neither invests Gods with the power of determining the consequences of the karmas nor bestows on them the authority to forgive people from future consequences of past actions. Jainism denies both intermediation and forgiveness on the part of God; of what we have done we must bear the consequences. It is not fate, nor even predistination, but it is the ever continuous balancing of the different accounts that we keep with the forces of life. 32 The karmas constitute the Karmic body; and it drags the soul into various forms of existence till the karmic body bids good-bye to the soul. This karma theory is an original and integral part of the Jaina system.
As it lays full stress on individual action and completely denies the existence of divine dispensation, it is clear that the ethics and asceticism of the Jainas are the logical consequences of this theory 33 of karma. All the Tirthankaras, whom the Jainas worship, did lead a social life and did attain salvation at the end. This shows that social life was never considered as an impediment to one's spiritual progress if necessary precautions are taken as the Tirthankaras did. These precautions are included in vows and estabished separately for householders and monks. For a householder it is twelve in number. These vows play a good part in the life of a single Jaina as well as that of the whole community.34
The layman who adopts the twelve vows, or some of them, is left ample freedom to fulfil all his worldly duties, and to remain in fullest concordance with worldly propriety and etiquette even if he happens to occupy any responsible post which requires energetic and violent acting in the interest of the state. Jaina ethical rules are meant for inen of all positions-- for king, warriors, traders, artisans,
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