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by Jayaram V
I adore so greatly the principles of the Jain religion,
that I would like to be reborn in Jain community - George Bernard
Shaw.
In the ancient world, the Jain tradition was known as the Sramana
tradition. The
sramanas were ascetics, who led pure and austere lives,
without possessions, wandering from place to place and subjecting
themselves to rigorous austerities and self-discipline. They focused
on renouncing the causes of sin and suffering to achieve liberation
from pain and the cycle of births and deaths. Through the teachings of
Parsvanatha and Mahavira, the last two of the 24 tirthankaras, the
tradition grew into an organized religion, attracting a sizeable
following in various parts of the Indian subcontinent. To those who
are familiar with Hinduism, the beliefs and concepts of Jainism sound
familiar, making one wonder whether there was any connection between
the two in some remote past. There is an argument that Jainism was a
popular ascetic tradition of India with its roots in prehistoric
times, whose beliefs regarding soul, nature of existence, liberation,
austerities, time, karma and incarnation of souls found their way into
Hinduism directly or indirectly and enriched it greatly with a strong
spiritual and philosophical base. In this article we will discuss some
of the important concepts and core beliefs of Jainism, by knowing
which we will gain a fair understanding of how it differs from
Hinduism.
Three Tier Universe
Jains acknowledge a three tier universe, consisting of an upper,
middle and the lower worlds. The universe is eternal and
indestructible. It has no creator and it is indestructible. From time
to time some aspects of it however may
undergo changes. The
upper world is known as siddhasila, inhabited by eternally free and
pure souls, who remain permanently in a state of pure bliss and peace. The
middle world is inhabited by embodied beings such as humans, plants, animals
and beings with inert bodies (inanimate objects), subject to the law of karma.
The lower world is inhabited by beings,
passing through various stages of punishments for the sin they
incurred upon earth. They return to our world of embodied souls when
their punishment is complete. Jains view the world in which we live to
be full of misery and suffering and the souls that inhabit it are not
free because they are attached to matter or substance and vulnerable
to the inflow of karmic matter. As the Akaranaga
Sutra describes, the living world of ours is afflicted, miserable, difficult to instruct, and
without discrimination. In this world full of pain, the individual
beings suffer by their
different acts.
Jiva and Ajiva
Jainism views the whole universe in terms of two eternal,
independent, indestructible and coexisting components, Jiva and Ajiva,
which are similar in some respects to the concept of Purusha and Prakriti of the
Samkhya school. Jiva is interpreted differently as being, embodied soul
and conscious soul. Ajiva is the lifeless inert matter having
qualities (gunas) and atoms (paramanus). In a being Jiva is the soul
and Ajiva the physical body. Jiva is the dynamic aspect and ajiva the passive aspect. Jiva is the subject and Ajiva the object. Jiva is the
knower and the enjoyer, while Ajiva is the known and the enjoyed,
perceived by the
Jiva through the senses. The
Jiva contains three types of consciousness: knowing, feeling and
willing, while Ajiva being inert has no consciousness. For the
embodied soul, Ajiva is the allurement, the trap. It comes in many
shapes - love for the sense objects, attachment to possessions and
material things, desire for sensual pleasures, identification with
body and so on. For a Jiva, the Ajiva in which it is caught is a
burden, a baggage, which reduces the brilliance of its consciousness
and its ability to experience bliss, which is its true nature.
According to Jain tenets, karma is a kind of Ajiva or inert substance,
made of fine particles of matter, invisible to the naked eye, but
present every where in the universe. It is the binding force and the
source of bondage and misery. As an embodied soul engages in various
actions, the karmic matter flows into its body and clings to it like an impurity,
according to the nature of its actions. The karmic substance is
an impurity which leaves its imprint upon the soul and according to
its deeds. As a result the soul loses its freedom as becomes bound to
a vicious cycle of actions and consequences or causes and effects. Unlike the Atman of the Upanishads, the soul of Jainism has
plasticity and dimension. It has the ability to expand or contract, according to
the size and shape of the body in which it resides. In a womb it
enters like a small seed. But as the body begins to grow it also
expands correspondingly to fit into its
shape and size. At the end of its current corporeal life, it contracts again into
a seed and leaves the body to begin a new journey in another body according to its
karma.
The Souls
Jainism envisions a universe filled with innumerable eternal souls in varying degrees
of perfection and purity. Soul is the basic unit of consciousness
which makes all experience possible because it is capable of
perception and experience both in its mundane state and its pure
state. Based on their level of perfection three
types of souls are recognized. The Nityasuddhas are eternally pure and
perfect. They are impervious to the inflow of karmic substance. The Muktas are the
liberated souls, who are freed from the cycle of births and
deaths and the ordeals of embodiment. They live in a blissful and transcendental state,
indifferent to what is going on in different worlds. As freed souls,
living in a state of pure existence, they possess ananta jnana
(infinite knowledge), ananta darsana (infinite perception), ananta
virya (infinite power) and ananta sukha (infinite bliss). The thrid
type of souls are baddhas also known as sopadhi jivas. They are the bound souls, who are imperfect,
subject to the cycle of births and deaths and karma
produced by their own actions. Not all souls have the potential to
become free. To become free a soul needs to have bhavyatva, a special
quality that has to be activated by its karma to set the process of
its liberation in motion. Some souls either do not possess this
quality or can never activate it by their karma. So them remain bound
for ever.
Depending upon the number of senses they possess, the jivas are
divided into five categories, those having one, two, three, four and
five senses respectively. Plants have only one sense, the sense of
touch. The mammals have all the five senses. In between there two are
the jivas having two,
three or four senses. Human beings, gods and higher beings possess an
additional sixth sense, called manas or mind, which gives them the ability to think
and act rationally. The number of senses is an important criteria in
selecting right kind of food for consumption to practice the principle
of ahimsa or non injury. Since it is not possible to consume food
without indulging in some form of violence of injury to living beings,
it is better to select plants which have only one sense. Eating food
prepared by killing animals having two or more senses would lead to
greater sin and adverse karma.
One of the distinguishing features of Jainism is its belief that
souls exists both in animate and inanimate objects. The souls
are found every where, in every conceivable object, not only in men and animals,
but also in the plants, planets, stars, elements,
oceans, rivers, wood, metal and even a dew or a rain drop. The Jain
believe that there are planetary souls, elementals souls, ethereal souls and souls living
beyond the reach of our senses in invisible and subtle matter. The condition of
a soul depends upon the body it occupies. The consciousness of souls
which reside in inanimate objects or elemental bodies remains in a
latent state in contrast to souls living in more dynamic bodies. The condition
of one soul per one body also does not apply in Jainism. Some times a multitude
of souls may occupy one body as in case of some tuberous plants. Innumerable souls may also exist
together as a loosely held cluster occupying vast stretches of space
encompassing the whole world as one complex organism. They are called nigodas,
which act like a vast
store houses of souls. Suspended in the atmosphere, the nigodas keep filling the empty spaces automatically,
whenever they are left
vacant by the departing or liberated souls. Like the major air
currents that crisscross our planet, the nigodasput great
responsibility on us to act carefully lest we harm some souls
unknowingly.
Dharma, Adharma, Space & Time
Ajiva dravya or the inert matter is of two types, rupa (with form)
and arupa
(without form). They are further divided into dharma, adharma,
space, time and pudgala. Of them only pudgala is matter with form,
which can be perceived through senses, and the rest are formless. Unlike in Hinduism and
Buddhism, dharma, adharma, space and time are not some abstract concepts
or processes, but objective
aspects of the universe, grouped under the category of substances (dravyas) in order to distinguish
them from the soul, which is not a substance. In Jainism dharma and
adharma do not represent merit or demerit or right and wrong. They are
the motivating or moving forces of the things
in the universe. If space is what holds things like a container, dharma
is what moves them and adharma is what brings them to rest within that
container. All things, both animate and inanimate, occupy the space and are subject to movement
(dharma) and rest (adharma). Space, movement and rest are the
three permanent realities of the universe, within the field of our
experience. All actions of a Jiva are induced by the movements and
rest of its body, mind and senses, In other words, karma is induced by
both dharma and adharma. Dharma is what makes the inflow and out flow
of karmic substance possible and adharma is what makes it stick to the
jiva or rest in it.
Kala is another aspect of Ajiva dravya. It is unilateral and
without extension. It is a persistent continuation of successive
movements, strung together from the past into the present as one
endless continuum. Kala is both absolute and relative. The absolute time,
kala, is without a beginning and without an end, indivisible and
formless. The relative time, samaya, has a beginning and an end. It
has a form and it is divisible into seconds, minutes, hours, days,
months, years and so on. Relative time caused by changes
in the motion of things. It is also cyclical because it has an ebb and
flow in which the condition of souls fluctuate according to a
predictable pattern. As in Hinduism, in Jainism also time is perceived
as a destroyer because eventually in death as in liberation the body
of a jiva is temporarily destroyed.
Pudgala and The Atomic Theory
Pudgala is matter with form. It is what the bodies of jivas are made of, or
what the earth and the planets are made of. It has certain perceivable
qualities, shapes or forms and properties. It is what is perceived and
experienced by the jivas through their senses. It is subject
to modifications, but eternal. It embodies energy and prone to motion
(parispanda) and evolution (parinama). Everything in the universe,
except the souls is made out of pudgala. In its gross form it is
grasped by the senses, but the senses cannot reach its subtle forms.
The karmic matter is a subtle pudgala that becomes attached to the
bodies of the souls because of their actions.
Pudgula is made up of infinitesimally small atoms or paramanus,
which are eternal, cannot be created and indestructible. The atoms are
responsible for the qualities and nature of
pudgala. Each atom has some weight. The lighter atoms stay
above and the weightier ones below. Each atom occupies a certain
point in space. The atoms also possess certain qualities such as taste,
color, smell and texture. Atoms of the gross matter are much larger in
size and occupy greater area in space than atoms of the subtle matter.
Things are produced by the combination of atoms of dissimilar nature, prone to mutual attraction. The movement of
atoms in the space are caused by dharma and adharma, which we have discussed before. Atoms have a tendency to
come together and form into aggregates (skandha) of different types. Aggregates
constitute one aspect of pudgala, the other being atoms. Our
material universe is in fact a giant aggregation of countless atoms (mahaskandha),
subject to change and transience made possible by the aggregation and disintegration
of atoms. The atoms are eternal. So is the universe. What undergoes
change is the combination of atoms or the aggregates. Atoms are
homogenous, but by developing certain qualities and grouping
themselves into various combinations they manifest as numerous
substances. Atoms have motion and can travel swiftly from one part of
the universe to another at infinite speeds.
Karma
According to Jainism Karma is a kind of matter (pudgalika) which
enters the body of a jiva according to the nature of its actions. The
karmic matter is present in the whole universe and has a tendency to
modify the future of a jiva by entering into it and creating effects
of merits and demerits. The karmic substance remains in the jiva till
it is cleansed through neutralizing actions. By indulging in various
actions and interacting with the external world, each jiva keeps on
attracting the karmic substance into itself which leads to the
development of a karmic body (karmana sarira). This karmic body
remains with the jiva through its various reincarnations till the soul
is completely liberated. Every action performed by a jiva leaves upon
it an impression and forms the basis for an action or event in its
future. The karmic substance envelops the soul and camouflages its
brilliance like a layer of black soot forming on the glass of a lamp.
This happens in case of both mental and physical actions.
Bhavakarma is the substance that enters a jiva through its mental
actions and dravya karma through its physical actions.
On account of karma a jiva passes through five different types of
karmic conditions. The first one is the Audayika state. It is the
normal state in which karma does its regular work. The next one is
Aupamasika state, in which karma is not removed but neutralized
and prevented temporarily from producing its results. In the Ksaayika
state, the jiva is able to remove its karma completely so that it will
not produce any effects, resulting in its liberation. In the
Ksayopamasika state, which is the next one, a jiva find itself in all
the three preceding states, that is some karma is present in its
normal state, some karma is neutralized temporarily and some karma is
permanently removed. In the fifth state a jiva is completely immune to
the effects of karma. This is the state of liberation. The Ksayika and
Aupamasika states are found in the holy men while the Aupamasika state
is normally found in pious and virtuous people who perform good deeds.
Liberation
Liberation in Jainism actually means liberation of soul from matter
including the karmic matter. For human beings it is freedom from cycle
of births and deaths and the impurity of karma. Karma is what binds
the soul (jiva) to the matter (ajiva). Jainism recognizes seven
tattvas or principles namely jiva, ajiva, asrava, bandha, samvara,
niraja and moksha. A jiva (soul) becomes free from ajiva (matter or
material body) through various stages to reach the highest state of
absolute liberation called moksha. Asrava is the flow of kamric
substance into the body of jiva. Bandha is the bondage that binds the
soul to the body, caused by wrong belief, non-renunciation,
carelessness, passion and the vibration caused in the soul by the
actions of the body, mind and senses. Samvara is that which prevents
the inflow of karma completely. Niraja is that which nuetralizes and
eliminates all the previous sins and purifies the soul. Moksha is the
state of complete liberation, to which soul can reach to experience
its highest and purest state of blissful consciousness. Jains take the
concept of liberation to its extreme when they ultimately subject
their bodies to self destruction through fasting and other austerities
to attain liberation. Suicide is an acknowledged short cut to
liberation in Jainism. It is prescribed as an alternative to extreme
asceticism when one is unable to overcome attachment and passions. A
monk is also allowed to kill himself after twelve years of ascetic
practices to attain nirvana.
Suggested Further Reading
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