The Jaina views of the nature of man and the
universe render the notion of God unnecessary. All of nature is
autonomous and is governed by its own laws. Man makes his own world for
better or for worse, Jaina ethics is thus nontheocentric, unlike Judaism,
Christianity, Islam and some forms of Hinduism. In all of these
religions, God functions as Maker, Ruler, Rewarder, and Judge. But for
the Jainas �It is not necessary to surrender to any higher being nor to
ask for any divine favor for the individual to reach the highest goal of
perfection. There is no place for divine grace, nor is one to depend on
the capricious whims of a superior deity for the sake of attaining the
highest ideal. According to Jainism each individual soul is to be
considered as God, as he is essentially divine in nature.�
Though Jainism rejects the notion of a
creator God, it does have a sort of �ethical heaven� inhabited by
enlightened souls called Arhatas and Siddhas. These pure beings are ones
who have realized the true form of the self by conquering their senses.
In the words of D. N. Bhargava: �These Siddhas are far more above gods or
deities. They neither create nor destroy anything. They have conquered,
once and for all, their nescience and passion, and cannot be molested by
them again.�
Jainism permits the worship of the Arhatas
and Siddhas but not in the conventional sense of seeking rewards.
Instead, worship is ethically oriented for the sake of attaining their
high qualities. It begins with penance. It continues with progressive
purification of one�s actions. Jaina ethics specifies three grades of
Self. First, there is the Outer-Self, involved in worldly affairs, taking
the body to be the soul. Second, there is the inner-Self that understands
the difference between body and soul and aims at the perfection of the
latter. Third, there is the Enlightened Soul (Paramatman) that has
realized its true form. It possesses infinite knowledge and joy
unspeakable. In the practice of Jaina worship, one must renounce the
Outer-Self and, through the conversion of the Inner- Self, move toward the
Paramatman, which is the true goal of the mystic quest. This journey is
traversed through the medium of moral and intellectual preparations, which
purge everything obstructing the emergence of potential divinity. The
spirit in which the Jaina devotee worships the Paramatmans is reflected in
this verse, �Him who is the leader of the path to Liberation, who is the
crusher of mountains of Karmas, and who is the Knower of all reality, Him
I worship in order that I may realize those very qualities of him.�
Thus the purpose of Jaina worship is not the
deification of some savior figure, but the veneration and adoration of the
ideals that figure represents.
