PRINCIPLES OF JAINISM
The fundamental principles of Jainism can be briefly stated as follows.
The first fundamental principle of
Jainism is that, man's personality is dual, that is, material and
spiritual. Jaina philosophy regards that every mundane soul is bound by
subtle particles of matter known as Karma from the very beginning. It
considers that just as gold is found in an alloy form in the mines, in
the same way mundane souls are found along with the Karma bondage from
time eternal. The impurity of the mundane soul is thus treated as an
The second principle that man is not
perfect is based on the first principle. The imperfectness in man is
attributed to the existence of Karma in his soul. The human soul is in a
position to attain perfection and in that true and eternal state it is
endowed with four characteristics, viz., Ananta-darsana, Ananta-Jnana,
Ananta-virya and Ananta-sukha, i. e., infinite perception or faith,
infinite knowledge, infinite power and infinite bliss.
Even though man is not perfect, the
third principle states that by his spiritual nature man can and must
control his material nature. It is only after the entire subjugation of
matter that the soul attains perfection, freedom and happiness. It is
emphatically maintained that man will be able to sail across the ocean
of births and achieve perfection through the control of senses and
The last basic principle stresses that
it is only each individual that can separate his own soul and the matter
combined with it. The separation cannot be effected by any other person.
This means that man himself, and he alone, is responsible for all that
is good or bad in his life. He cannot absolve himself from the
responsibility of experiencing the fruits of his actions. This principle
distinguishes Jainism from other religions, e. g., Christianity, Islam
No God, nor His prophet or deputy or
beloved can interfere with human life. The soul, and that alone, is
directly and necessarily responsible for all that it does. God is regarded
as completely unconcerned with creation of the universe or with any
happening in the universe. The universe goes on of its own accord. Because
of this definite attitude towards God, Jainism is accused of being
atheistic. It is true in the sense that Jainism does not attribute the
creation of universe to God. But at the same time Jainism cannot be
labeled as atheistic because it believes in Godhood, in innumerable gods,
in Punya and Papa, i. e., merit and demerit, in religious practices, etc.
According to Jainism the emancipated soul is considered as God and it is
absolutely not concerned with the task of creation of this world.