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ŚRIMAD BHAGAVADGITĀ: A JAIN PERSPECTIVE : 33 gets full support from Gītā itself. Reference to last few verses of Chapter 3 makes it clear that our real enemies are “Rāga”(attachment) and “Dveșa” (aversion) and therefore, being cured of selfishness and mental fever, one should fight against these enemies. Lord admonishes Arjuna to destroy the most powerful enemy in form of “desires” (Kāmarūpam) by restraining his own self-interest'. Admonishing Arjuna Lord Krşņa says, “Oh Bhārata cut as under your doubts which are born out of ignorance with the sward of knowledge, take refuge in Yoga and arise”.?
Again, how can it be said that Gītā admonishes us through Lord Krsņa to approve the mindless killing and bloodshed involved in every war when he repeatedly advises Arjuna to cultivate “Samatva" i.e. equanimity of mind and finally, like Mahāvīra, the greatest prophet of Ahiṁsā (non-violence), he says Arjuna that, “He alone sees, that “God” in himself is the same “God” in all that is, and that he hurts himself by hurting others.
Such a person sees the Supreme Lord equally present in all?. Thus we can truly appreciate Gītā only if we are able to appreciate its symbolic version.
Avatāravāda not accepted One more clarification about Jain perception is that the theory of “Avatāra” i.e. the decent of Divine on earth in human form to save the righteous and to destroy the evil, has no place in Jainism. As Jain Ācārya Umāsvāti puts it in his Tattvārtha-sūtra "The soul whose seeds of Karma are totally burnt, cannot have rebirth again, just as a burnt seed cannot sprout again". The point is that after obtaining salvation the soul has no emotional attachment to the world, which is the real cause of 'rebirth'4. This view is supported by Chāndogya Upanişad saying that the liberated soul called "Siddha” does not return back.' Describing the place of the “Released Soul, Gītā also endorses the view of Chāndogya and says: “That place is not illumined by sun or moon or fire. Having gone there one does not
