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THE MONK AT BENARES
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JAINISM NOT AN ATHEISM He began by saying that Jainism, which hitherto has been frequently misrepresented and much misunderstood, is not in any sense an Atheism, the religion of Atheists or unbelievers, who disbelieve the existence of God, and who regard soul as nothing but an outcome of a particular combination of atoms of matter. He pointed out explicitly, and in an expressive and unambiguous manner, that the Jain religion did not deny the existence of God, the Supreme Being, the Paramātman. He stated in clear and emphatic terms that to call Jainism or the religion of the Jainas,--the religion which affirms the existence of, and teaches obedience to, God, the Paramount Power; the religion which maintains the immortality of the soul and its growth; the religion which distinguishes Punya, or good, which is the cause of happiness, from Pāpa, or evil, which is the cause of unhappiness; the religion which believes in Moksha,or final emancipation, the liberation of the Spirit from the bondage of matter, and demands the destruction of the Karmic bonds for the attainment of the same; the religion which prescribes the ways and means by which this salvation is to be attained, laying down the threefold path, which consists in Right Belief or Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct—to call and represent such a religion as an Atheistic religion is manifestly absurd, grotesque and preposterous. Such a presentment is evidently irrational and unmeaning, and utterly unworthy of intellectual apprehension.
