________________
176
Study of Jainism
DOCTRINE OF KARMA IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY
I. There is apparent inequality among men. Happiness misery are distributed in unequal ways. Very often we find good men suffer and men of evil prosper. King Hariscandra suffered untold misery for his truthfulness. The book of Job presents the life of Job which is at once noble and piognantly miserable. Personal and social inequality has been the perennial problem of inscrutable providence and social injustice. Attempts have been made to find a suitable philosophical solution to these problems and to justify the ways of God to man. Various theories, like the theories of Accident, Fatalism and the that of Natural Necessity have been suggested as possible solutions to this inscrutable problem. But, Omer Khayyam said :
“Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument About it and about : but evermore Came out by the same Door as in I went".1
If we survey the ancient Indian thought, doctrine of karma has been suggested as the possible solution to this problem and it is intimately connected with the concept of rebirth. “The common basis of all the religious systems of India is the dogma of retribution causality of the deed (Karma) and conditioned by this the beginningless chain of existences following one another”.?
“O Gautama, just as a sprout has a seed for its hétu, as there is a hëtu for happiness and misery ; since it is a Karya. That hētu is the karma,"
The doctrine of karma is one of the most significant tenets of Indian thought It has profoundly influenced life and thought of the people of India. It has become the logical prius of all Indian thought. It is the basal presupposition of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The Jainas have developed the doctrine of karma on the realistic approach. They have given the analysis of the principle and the operation of karma on a scientific basis, with its empirical and anekanta approach.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
