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Jain Philosophy And Religion And The Concept Of Soul

 

The concept of god : In the Western system of thought, the concept of religion bound inextricably with the idea of a supreme god, as creator of this world. The opposite is true of the Jains: since their universe has always existed and will never end, i.e., their world is without beginning or end, there can be no place in their system of thought, to a supreme god as creator. Although their pantheon is peopled by innumerable divine beings, including a host of Hindu deities, yet these are merely images of super beings modelled on humans. It is due to the good works and virtuous conduct in a previous life that human beings are reborn as divine beings, endowed with special powers and a long existence. However, they continue to be bound to the cycle of death and rebirth. In fact, as opposed to human beings, gods suffer the disadvantage of not being able to achieve moksha directly. On the other, this also implies that human beings cannot have recourse to divine intervention in achieving this goal of liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth. The only possibility of achieving this goal is through ones own effort. Despite upholding such beliefs, the Jains do not consider themselves to be atheists for they worship the subliminally supernatural in its ideal form of the soul liberated from bondage, i.e., in the form of the goal they have set themselves to achieve.

The souls or animate substances : The world does not thus, come into being through an act of creation. Rather, it exists because the eternal animate substances combine with the inanimate ones Central to this idea is the classical concept of dualism of soul and matter. Animate substances meant the souls of all living beings - plants and animals, right up to the tiniest ones, the beings in hell, human beings and gods for the Jains firmly believe that the whole cosmos is alive and possessed of a soul. The Jainism that informs these ideas is a further proof of the antiquity of this religion.
All these souls are independent of each other, they are uncreated substances, eternal and indestructible, and consequently, the total number of souls always remains constant. If the souls were not bound to matter, they would be in a state of utter bliss, omniscience and boundless energy.

All these souls are independent of each other, they are uncreated substances, eternal and indestructible, and consequently, the total number of souls always remains constant. If the souls were not bound to matter, they would be in a state of utter bliss, omniscience and boundless energy.

The inanimate substances : The empirically experienced and known world emerges from the union of souls with the inanimate, i.e., material substances. Altogether, there are five of them the Western mind, however, would classify these mostly under the categories of medium or dimension, e.g. space, time, motion and rest. Matter is the most important of these five substances. Its basic form is conceived as being infinitely small, a kind of atom. It can contract and expand, combine with others to form aggregates, assume the most varied colours, shapes and smells and is therefore, able to bring forth a multitude of phenomena.

Of the several characteristics of matter, the most notable is its ability to enter or flow into the soul and to effect a decisive transformation on the nature of the soul. The soul's clarity and natural brightness are thus, clouded over and veiled by-layers of matter, resulting in the soul losing its most remarkable characteristics: omniscience is reduced to mere cognition of a much lesser degree, blissful happiness is replaced by suffering which is characterised by transient mortal bodies, desires and passions.

Karma : Every action of a living being results in the entry of tiny material particles into the soul and then can be transformed into karma. Indian philosophy of every shade recognises karma as being responsible for the cycle and quality of our rebirths. The influx of matter into the soul pictured as the pouring in of a coloured fluid in transparently clear water, penetrating it. The Jain concept of karma as matter consisting of tiny or subtle particles differs from the Buddhist, which conceives of karma as being immaterial and develops upon the existence of an older body of thought.

Although the soul attracts subtle matter, yet the actual binding because of which matter sticks to the soul is passion. In the case of any action performed without any effect, or at least without intention, matter will not stick to the soul. It will, in fact glide off just as particles of sand slide off a smooth slope.

The root cause of all passions is the craving of the soul for existence, a craving that, in the old texts, often been compared to a creeper thriving on the soul, in a poem of the famous uttaradyayana text. Gautam, Mahavira's, disciple, explains to the ascetic Keshin how this lust for life can be controlled and overcome:

"O Gautama, in the innermost heart
There grows a plant
Which brings forth poisonous fruit;
how have you torn it out:''
"I have thoroughly clipped that plant,
and torn it out altogether with its roots;
I wonder about as an ascetic as it is the custom,
Thus I have got rid of the poisonous fruit."
Kesi said to Gautama.
-What do you call that plant?"
To these words of Kesi Gautama made the following reply:
"Love of existence is that dreadful plant
which brings forth dreadful fruit;
Having regularly torn it out,
I wonder about as an ascetic, great sage!''

(Uttaradyayana sutra 23 lines 45-48, cited in Mette. Refer to bibliography)

The moral quality and passion informing action characteristics of karma determined. The Jains, obsessed as they are by numbers and having a penchant for systematisation, list one hundred and forty-eight kinds of karma, each of which affects the living being differently. In most cases, the karma worked out during one's lifetime itself, and this produces effects on the current life: thus, it can have a faith-obscuring or knowledge-obscuring effect, can produce discontentment, anger and sorrow, have effects on the social standing of a person, or it can hinder one from taking advantage of the positive opportunities that life offers.

But since the karma which has been worked out or purged in this manner is continuously being formed again through the inflow of new karmic substance, there is always enough karma still left to prevent the soul from being liberated, and this forces the soul to undergo rebirth.

The effect of karma on the soul can also be characterised through colour. Lower the motif for an action, lesser is the impact on soul, the darker will be the colour of the soul induced by the karma. Consequently, heinous action results in the influx of black particles, actions formed by greed or sensuality induce darker elements. A lack of self-control or thoughtlessness produces shades of grey, pious and magnanimous actions produce red; compassion and selflessness manifested by the colour yellow. White alone symbolizes freedom from passion.

These examples show clearly that the soul assumes lighter hues through positive action, but even these lighter colours are sufficient to veil and envelope the natural characteristics of the soul. A life comprising good deeds will only result in a better rebirth but not in the achievement of omniscience. In order to attain this goal, all accumulated karma has first completely purged and the influx systematically prevented from new karma.

The pessimistic worldview of life and the material world : An escape from the eternal cycle of birth is only possible if the accumulated karma completely purged and no new influx of karma permitted. This is essential for the Jains, since their pessimistic worldview of life leads them to perceive everything material, the existence of a soul in any material body, as embodying suffering, and this is viewed negatively.

For the Europeans, this worldview is incomprehensible. The degree of stretch borne out in a small excerpt taken from the Avashyaka-Curni in which King Pundariya describes the sufferings of human existence to his brother Kandariya.

For human existence is subject to innumerable evils, comprising of hundreds of abhorrent miseries of birth, old age, death, disease, pain, physical and mental sensations, desire and suffering. It is indefinite, transient and momentary. It is like the redness of twilight, like a blister: it resembles the water droplet suspended on a blade of kusha-grass: it may compare to a fleeting vision: it is as momentary as, a bolt of lightning. The essence of human existence is perishing, decay and death and eventually be left behind.

The same is true of the human body: it is a shell of suffering, a bearer of a hundred different infirmities, the wood of bones supports it and a network of veins and sinews binds it up. It is as fragile as a vessel made of clay and contaminated by impurities. One must continuously strengthen, although one does not love it. Old age gnaws at it, making it like an unsafe, dilapidated house.

"Human pleasures too are impure and momentary; a concoction of vomit and bile, mucus, semen and blood and, in turn, they produce excrement, urine, mucus and snot, vomit, bile, pus, semen and blood. Full of unpleasantly stinking filth, giving off the smell of death, they arouse fear of breathing in impurities and cause abhorrence. Ephemeral and slight, dirty, painful and common to many people, they result in contamination, misery and suffering. Nurtured by the unwise, and despised by the good. They extend the endless cycle of birth and help ripen the pungent, sharp fruits of karma. Like a conflagration, suffering attends them; one has not put out the fires of desire that prevent the attainment of liberation or moksha. Sooner or later, they have inevitably to be given up." ( Curni I 387= uttaradyayana Tikka pg. 329) cited in A. Mette, refer to bibliography).

However drastic this text may appear to be, it best illustrates the absolute pessimistic worldview of the Jains. Mankind is floundering on earth through a labyrinth of elusively momentary joys, deceptive or corrupting and contaminating desires, and the most horrible suffering, and the end result is to be condemned to the endless migration of the soul from one existence to another, i.e., to the cycle of birth. Moreover, humankind has to undergo all this without the familiar, comforting concept of a merciful and benevolent god.

It is fascinating that such a religion could endure until today; what is even more fascinating is the fact that some of the architectural marvels of the world have emerged from a classical, dialectal contradiction.

Liberation or moksha : The Jains have fourteen categories according to which they define the state in which the body enveloping a soul currently exists. The hierarchical gradation of these states of being is clearly theoretical since the soul can slip into a lower category again, through the influx of new karma. At the precise moment when karma are completely purged, the unfettered soul, free of the material layers enveloping it, becomes weightless and rises to the top of the universe. The way to achieve moksha described in the chapter on the Sangha (community of followers).

The universe : A description of the cosmos from the Jain perspective is beyond the scope of this book because it is an extremely complicated and elaborately constructed, comprising figures and shapes, evoked by religious thinkers. The world conceived in the form of graded layers: at the bottom are the seven regions of hell, then the world of human beings, a circular continent and characterised by the world mountain, Mt. Meru. Other continents and oceans in concentric rings surround this world. Above the starry sky are the layers comprising the different levels or stories of the world of gods and, finally, above this region, is the layer of the completed ones, the place to which the unfettered souls of the liberated ones rise. The whole system explained in terms of the human form, in which case the crown of the dome inside the hollow of the skull would serve as the line of demarcation, corresponding to the dome of the cosmos beyond which nothing exists and which is the reservoir of the liberated souls.

The completed souls : In this uppermost layer, the completed souls are in a state of utter bliss. They communicate with each other in a spiritual, almost divine, manner.

The Jains naturally believe that the twenty-four Tirthankaras number among the completed or liberated souls and they are highly revered. Their statues found in every temple, however for Europeans have to be careful unlike the Western gods, saints or auxiliary saints, the Tirthankaras not propitiated since they are indifferent to the destiny or fate of humans. They merely serve as examples for treading the long and weary path to spiritual liberation consequently; revering a Tirthankara signifies the desire and commitment to emulate him. It in no way implies propitiating the assistance or the intervention of the liberated one.

 

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Article Source : "Jainism And The Temples Of Mount Abu And Ranakpur"
Publisher : Gyan Gaurav Publishers. C-34, Sir Pratap Colony, Airport Road, Jodhpur
Tele : 91 291 2515861, 9414127863, Editor : Mr. Dilip Surana
Layout & Graphics : Antesh Choudhary
Text : Lothar Clermont, Photos: Thomas Dix,
Printer : First Printed 1998, Reprinted 2006 by Thomson Press, New Delhi
Volume : 96 pages, Size: 242 x 312 mm

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