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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The concept of God in Jainism

Reference: 'Jain Dharma evam darshan' by Pt Kailash Chandraji

Vedics call jains as nastik as jainism do not believe in any Ishwar who is creater of this world.
Let us analys this subject.
For this I have referred the book "Jain dharma" written by sidhhantacharya Pt. Shri Kailashchandraji Shastri.

There are 3 kinds of faiths about god.One says that there is a supreme all-0mighty god who has created us & will destroy us.This world is not real ,& it is like a dream of the god (Brahma)
The other faith is that the god has created us but cannot destroy us & he gives the fruits as according to our deeds.
The 3rd faith says that there is no such god who has created us & this world but we & this world is beginningless & endless (anadi-anidhan)

Suppose, we go with the first faith & believes that there is a creater god who has created us & this world.There was nothing else in the beginning & only this supreme god was there.
Now, the question comes that who has created god?
From what substance he was created ?
From where does those substances came from?
The scholars of this faith says that the god has not been created ,he was there on his own.
Means, they are accepting that there was a vastu (god) which was beginningless & was on its own i.e. nobody has created him.

Now, when a vastu or a substance is there then there must be existance of its qualities(gunns) because without qualities a vastu can't be there.So, they accept that the qualities were also beginningless & were on their own- nobody created them.

Now, the question arises when there was nothing else other than god then with what he created this world & the aatmas.?
Vastu cannot form from avastu.Means there must be something raw material from which a substance is formed.
For example we can make a ring, a chain,or a mukut of gold.We can also make a chain into a ring, a ring into a rod & so on,But in any case there must be the gold.
Similarly, we find that water of sea evoporates & forms clouds & then again falls as rain, it can become ice- but in all such changes this Hydrogen & oxygen (which forms water) must be present.
We can take countless examples & each time will come to conclusion that the basic substance is always existing & only thing which is happening is the change of form or state (paryaya).
Scientists say that "matter or energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only their states or forms are changing"

So, it is not possible to create a substance from a non-substance. Or "something can never be created from nothing"

Jain phylosophy says that this world & the aatmas & every thing is existing from the beginningless time, we are not created from "nothing" by any god.
No one can destroy us nor this world.
Actually nothing is ever destroyed in this world.Have you seen you eat a fruit,it is digested and converted into energy , mass(your boby cells), & the rest is passed off as stools.
This faeces goes into soil, taken up as nutrients by bacteria & plants & again this plant will give you fruit.
What is destroyed in the whole process?
Nothing.
Only the form or state is changing, substance is never destroyed.
So is the case of aatmas.We will leave this body oneday & will take another birth, but we'll be never destroyed.
(to be continued- - - - - - )

So, we find that nothing can be created nor destroyed- that is we & this world is having existence on our own.
Now, let us analyse the 2nd believe which says that a god has created us & this world but he doesn't interfere with the fruits ( i.e. sukh- dukh) we gets.We do karmas & get the results accordingly.Also this god can't destroy us.
This is very questionable.You see if so called god is in nowhere coming in the results of our deeds or the karmas then what is his significance.
Won't it be then correct to say, that we get things according to our own karmas.If we'll do wrong we'll get dukh or sorrow & the vice-versa.
Again the people of this faith also believes that god is allmighty & if we do hie pooja or makes him happy then he will give us reward.
You see the contradiction.On one hand they say whatever we get is in accordance with our own deeds & on the other hand they believe that if they makes the god happy then He'll give him good rewards- what is the role of the karma principle then?
What a partiality god is doing- do wrong deeds along with doing his pooja etc- you'll get rewards- this injustice can be made out simply.

Third is the view of jina-dharma- which says that there is no god who is the creater, destroyer or the care-taker of this world.We get fruits in accordance with our karma.Nobody gives these fruits but we ourselves get them in according to our karmas.
For example, if you put your hand on fire it will burn- no god is burning it.
Similarly if you heat water it changes into steam- no god is making this steam.
If a seed is sown in soil, water & sunlight if present- the seed will grow into tree- no god is doing this.
Suppose that there is a god who is doing all this- then why the seed is not growing without soil & water?
why your hand is not protected from heat when you put it on fire?
Why water becomes steam & not ice when it is boiled?
No- god is not doing all this- they happens on their own because one substance can influence other substances & can be itself influenced by other substances.
That is why when we do a sin then we get a fruit which is dukh for us & when we do a good deed then it brings us a fruit which is sukh for us.

Jina-dharma says god is the one who has destroyed all his karmas & so has attained his swabhav i.e. kevalgyan & will not be born again in this world.
Real sukh according to jina-dharma is in swabhav (that is to know & to see)- the worldly sukh are only for a while & are ultimately leading us to attain more karma-bandhan only.