v) God�s omnipresence and omniscience cannot
also be accepted, because:
a)if
he is everywhere he absorbs into himself everything into his won self,
leaving nothing to exist outside him:
b) his
omniscience would make him experience hell , as he would know everything
and his knowledge would be direct experience.6
vi)
It is not possible to accept the Naiyayika contention that without the
supposition of God, the variety of the world would be inexplicable because
we ca very well posit other alternatives like (I) the existence of the
natural order and (ii) a society of gods to explain the universe.
But if a society of gods were to quarrel ad fan out as it is
sometimes contended, then the nature of gods would be quite so unreliable
if not vicious that we cannot expect elementary co- operation that we find
in ants and bees.
The best way, therefore, is to dispense with God altogether.
We find similar objections against the acceptance of a theistic
God in Buddhism also. The Buddha was opposed to the conception of Iscara
as a creator of the universe. If the world were to be thus vreated, there
should be no change nor destruction nor sorrow ot calamity.
If Isvara were to act with a purpose, he sould not be perfect
that would limit his perfection. But if he were to act without a purpose
his actions would be meaningless like a child�s play.
There is nothing superior to the law of Karma. The sufferings of
the world are intelligible only on the basis of the law of Karma. Though
the Buddha admits the existent of the gods like Indra and Varuna they are
also involved in the wheel of Samsara.
We have so far seen that the Jainas , as also the Buddhists,8
were against the theistic conception of God. God as a creator is not
necessary to explain the universe. We have not to seek God there in the
world outside, nor is God to be found � in the dark lonely corner of a
temple with doors all shut. He is there witching us. He is there with the
tiller tilling the ground and the pathmaker breaking stine�, in the sense
that each individual soul is to be considered as God as he is essentially
dine in nature. Each soul when it is perfect is god.
3. The Jainas sought the divine in man and established the
essential divinity of man. This conception has been developed in specific
directions in Jaina philosophy.
As we have seen , the existence of the soul is a presupposition
in the Jaina philosophy. Proofs are not necessary. If there are any proofs
are not necessary. If there are any Proofs wr can say that all the
pramaas ca establish the existence of the soul. It is described from
the phenomena and the noumena pints of view. From the phenomenal point of
view, it possesses pranas, is the lord (prabhu), doer (karata,)
enjoyed (bhokta) limited to his body (dehamatra), still incorporeal ad is
ordinarily found with Karma,9 From the numeral pint of view, soul is
described I tits pure form. It is pure and perfect. It is pure
consciousness. It is unbound, untouched and not other that itself. The
joys and sorrows that the sosul experiences are due to the fruits of karma
which it accumulated due to the cotionuousactivity that it is having,
these entanglement is beginnings, but it has an end. The deliverance of
the soul from the wheel of samasara is possible by voluntary means.
By the more and spiritual efforts involving samvara and nirjara,
the Karma is removed, the soul soul is removed. When al Karma is
theremoved , the soul becomes pure and perfect, free from the wheel of
Samasara. Being free with its upward motion it attains liberation or Moska.
There is nothing other which is as perfect. There is not other God. The
freed souls are divine in nature, as they are perfect and omniscient.
For the Jaina it is not necessary to surrender to any higher
being, not to ask for any dine favor for the individual to reach the
hihedst 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 idea. There is emphasis on individual efforts in
moral and spiritual struggle for self- realization. One has to go through
the fourteen stages of spiritual development before one reaches the final
goal in the ayogakevali stage.
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