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Appendix XVIII
Jainism: An overview*
Jainism views the whole world eternally existing enforcing its own inherent laws. It is an aesthetic religion but it is not antitheistic. It does not believe in a God, but Tirthankaras, Munis and Acāryas are all revered and even worshipped in temples.
The religion lays compelling stress on moral and spiritual purity that alone can elevate man to a state of absolute perfection leading to Godhead a state of blemishless perfection, pure and
total!
Jainism believes in the soul (Jīva), life after death, transmigratory existence and Mokṣa, the final liberation from the cycle of birth and deaths. The karma and the bandha (bondage) theory also figures in Jainism as much as in Hinduism.
Apart from the main Digambara and Svetambaras sects there are, among the Śvetambaras, there are three other sub-sects: the 'Mandira Margis' (the temple goers), the 'Sthanakavāsis' (the monk adherents) and the "Terapanthis' ('Tera' your own, 'Pantha' - path), that is those who would prefer to subscribe to their own objective rationale without sacrificing the basic traditional norms and stipulation they believe in.
The Indian Express, 10 September 1999
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