Jainism is one
of the major ancient religions of the world.
Scholars believe that it originated as a reaction against the cumbersome
ritualism—karma kanda, and as a revolt against animal sacrifices being
carried out in the name of religion, prevalent then in Hinduism. We get evidence of this protest against
animal sacrifice in yagnas in the mythological stories of Jainism. Other Jainologists, however, consider Jainism
as old as Hinduism, if not older. It was
prevalent as one of the popular religions.
These scholars believe that in India Indus Valley Magadha province of Bihar India
The Vedic
culture emphasizes the concept of Brahmana or Brahmanahood, whereas the Sharmana culture
has its basis in the concept of all-renouncing monk, bhikku or a sharmana. The Vedic culture sets before us the concept
of jivanmukta—a person liberated in life. A jivanmukta can be even a
householder. He is also called a mantradrishta,
rishi, a person who has realized the scriptural truths, and there are a large
number of references in Hindu scripture of such householder rishis. Kind Janaka, sage Yajyavalka, Vasista, Atri
and many other rishis were all householders.
Sharmana culture, on the other hand, considers formal snnyasa or total
renunciation of all possessions, desires and even activity essential for
attaining liberation. Arhat is a
person who has gained perfect control over all his activities. Arhat, without any activity, is
projected as ideal.
Of the four
purusharthas or the goals of life, the Brahmana culture stresses dharma
or righteous conduct, whereas Sharmana culture emphaisizes moksha
or freedom more than dharma. One
must keep in mind these few basic facts while trying to undertake a comparative
study of Vedanta and Jainism. It must
also be borne in mind that Brahmanism or Hinduism is not the same as
Vedanta. Likewise Sharmanism and
Jainism are not identical. Besides, both
Vedanta and Jainism, have various aspects: philosophical, ethical, social as
well as practical. There are some
similarities between the two and some dissimilarities also. One must be careful not to draw conclusions
which might be too simplistic.
The etymological
meaning of word Vedanta is: the end or the conclusion of Vedas. Thus the last portions of the Vedas, i.e. the
Upanishad and the principles or philosophy propounded in them are Vedanta. In fact, Vedanta is a system of philosophy
which is the basis of Hinduism. There
are a number of interpretations of the Upanishads according to which there are
a number of schools of Vedanta like dvaita, advaita, visisthadvaita
etc. However, generally the Advaita
philosophy as propounded by Shankaracharya is equated with Vedanta.
Principles of Jainism and Vedanta
Now, if we believe that historically
Jainism has enmity only against the ritualistic aspect of Hinduism and
Brahmanism, then there should not be any antagonism between Jainism and
spiritual aspect of Upanishads. Even the
Upanishads have decried the Vedic ritualism characterized by excessive activity
and paraphernalia, and have preached about the conscious principle, Atman, and
have described its realization as the ultimate goal of life. There cannot be any contradiction or
opposition between Jainism and Vedanta on this score.
Both Jainism and
Vedanta accept Atman as the real nature of man and all other living creatures,
which is different from body, pranas, mind, intellect etc, which are jada. Jainism calls them pudgal. Vedanta propounds that the individual soul
forgets its real nature and identifies with body etc. due to ignorance or aviddya. Jainism also considers mithyatva or
wrong knowledge—ignorance—as the chief cause of bondage between the conscious
principle, Atman, and the insentient pudgal.
It, however, postulate few
more causes, viz, absence of dispassion from sense enjoyments (avirati),
carelessness (pramada), attachment (kashaya) and activities of
body, speech and mind (yoga). Vedanta and Jainism both believe in the
theory of karma and
transmigration. In Jainism the
philosophy of karma is discussed in very great details. To get rid of the bondage caused by the past karmas,
Jainism recommends two means: (a) samvara and (b) nirjara. Samvara means prevention of newer
karmic bondages i.e. prevention of influx of fresh karma and nirjara deals
with the methonds by which the already formed bondages could be removed i.e.,
purgation of karmas. This is done
by Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct. These three together are called Tri-ratna—triple
jewels—and are the very basis of Jainism, Besides, tapas or austerity is
so greatly stressed in Jainism that it may be considered as the fourth jewel.
When we try to
study these basis principles in the light of Practical Vedanta of Swami
Vivekananda, we find certain similarities.
Swamiji too greatly emphasized faith as one of the most important
virtue. While in Jainism Right Faith
means having faith in the true/pure guru (shuddha guru), pure deity or
prophet (shuddha deva) and true and pure religions (shudda dharma),
Swamiji laid stress on faith in oneself.
He went to the extent of proclaiming: ‘The old religion said that he was
an atheist who did believe in God. The
new religion says that he is the atheist who does not believe in himself.’
It is not that
Jainism does not preach faith in oneself.
In fact, Jainism does not believe in any God which creates, sustains and
destroys the universe. Likewise, it does
not advocate the concept of grace of superhuman divine being. Although tirthankaras—the prophets—are
adored in Jainism, it also believes that any one can attain to that exalted
state by one’s self-effort. Adoration of
the tirthankars is more a reminder of the state of perfection than
worship. There can be no contradiction
to this concept of the Practical Vedanta of Swamiji, which preaches potential
divinity in every human being. Swami
Vivekananda repeatedly exhorted his disciples to become rishis—greater even
than him.
In Jainism, the
greatest stress is laid on the necessity of character and purity of conduct (samyak
charittra), so has Swami Vivekananda.
Swamiji says: “Money does not pay, nor name; fame does not pay, nor
learning. It is love that pays; it is
character that cleaves through the adamantine walls of difficulties’. In fact, character building was the very
basis of all his practical plans of actions.
He wanted a ‘man making, character building’ education.
Observation of
the five yamas, viz, truth, non-violence, non-stealing, chastity and
non-possessiveness, wholly or partially as vows is the basis of right
conduct. According to the great sage
Patanjali, the author of yoga sutras, these five values must be practiced by
every one, everywhere and at all times, without
exception. Sri Ramakrishna was
fully established in these and Swami Vivekananda too advocated them. Hence there can be no dispute in this
matter. The only difference is that
whereas in Jainism greatest stress is laid on Ahimsa or non-injury,
Swamiji has emphasized truth and chastity.
Right Knowledge
is greatly emphasized in Vedanta, because ignorance can be destroyed only by knowledge. The chief means of acquiring this knowledge
is called Jnana Yoga, which aims at attaining the highest spiritual
knowledge. However, there is difference
between Vedanta and Jainism. According
to Advaita Vedanta, the individual soul and the cosmic soul or Brahman are
essentially one and non-different. But
Jainism believes that the individual souls are innumerable and separate, and
this differentiation remains even after emancipation. But one thing is certain: both Jainism and
Vedanta believe that the soul in its real nature is pure, free, blissful and of
the nature of consciousness.
Jainism is
basically a religion in which great stress is laid on renunciation and
meditation and giving up all activity.
It is a nivritti-pradhana dharma.
In Jain temples we often find images of Jain prophets and saints, either
sitting in a meditation posture or standing—that too in meditation. Swami Vivekananda too, has assigned the prime
place to concentration of mind and meditation in his schemes of Practical Vedanta. He was himself an adept in meditation and
considered concentration of mind as the secret of success in all spheres of
life. In Jainism a large number of
meditation techniques are described, starting from such simple and preliminary
techniques of collectting a dispersed mind like ananupurvi, to the most
advanced Shukla-dhyana.
Anekantavada and Syadavada are two interrelated theories which demonstrate
the catholicity of Jainism. An object or
phenomenon can be viewed from various viewpoints, and these various views can
all be true but only partially. To
explain this, Jains give the famous example of many blind men feeling various
parts of an elephant and deriving their own conclusions about it which are all only
partially true. This principle resembles
Sri Ramakrishna’s saying: “Ás many faiths, so many paths.” God can have various forms according to the
conception of different devotees, and at the same time He can be formless too. And there could be various paths to reach Him
which can all be equally valid.
Practical
Vedanta in the Light of Jainism:
We have, thus
far, studied some of the basic tenets of Jainism in the light of Practical
Vedanta. Let us now try to evaluate some
of the principles of Practical Vedanta as preached by Swami Vivekananda in the
light of Jainism. Let us, to begin with,
take up Swami Vivekananda’s definition of religion:
“Each soul is
potential divine.
The goal is to
manifest the divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal.
Do this either
by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy—by one, or more or all
of these—and be free. This is whole of
religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or
rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.’ Does Jainism accept this definition? Let us see.
We have already seen that Jainism believes the soul to be a conscious
entity and considers its freedom from karmic bondage as the goal of life. We have also seen that in Jainism greater
stress is laid on Raja yoga. However,
devotion, worship or bhakti is not neglected.
Worship of images in temples and chanting of hymns and praises form an
integral part of Jain religious practices.
A large number of Jain devotees derive immense spiritual benefit from
such practices. Nor are philosophical
studies neglected. There is enough scope
for scholarship and exercise of reason in Jainism and there is a vast mass of
Jain philosophical texts. However, the
path of action, or karma yoga, has not been extolled in Jainism as it has been
done in the Bhagavad Gita. “Service to
man as God” is the very basis of Practical Vedanta as preached by Swami
Vivekananda. In Jainism service is
considered one of the six internal tapas, austerities. But here too service only means service of
saints, monks and nuns. Although charity
is considered meritorious for the householders, according to Jainism all
activities ultimately lead to greater bondage.
Hence karma is not considered a means of purification.
If Swami
Vivekananda considers externals like rituals, forms and temples of secondary
importance, Jainism also emphasizes the mental attitude more than the external
act. This subject is discussed in
Jainism under the subject of “Naya” or the “Outlook”. If a meritorious act is performed with evil
intention, it cannot be considered meritorious.
This is akin to karma yoga of Vedanta according to which the fruits of
an action performed without attachment cannot affect the doer.
There are two
types of violence according to Jainism: actual violence and mental or
intentional violence—dravya himsa and bhava himsa. Of the two, intentional violence is
considered worse than actual violence.
Self-enquiry is
greatly emphasized in Vedanta, where it is called tvam-pada-shodhana. When one asks the question, “Who am I?” and
seeks the answer to such question, he ultimately realizes his real, pure,
conscious nature, the Atman, free from the adjuncts like body, mind, ego and
intellect. There is no difference between
the two—Vedanta and Jainism—so far as this process of inquiry is concerned.
Swami
Vivekananda has based his scheme of practical Vedanta on the foundation of
Advatia Vedanta. We must serve others
because in serving them we serve ourselves only, because there are no two
beings; there is only one cosmic soul.
Your soul and others’ soul are the same.
To harm the other is only harming oneself. The Jain prophet, Mahavir, speaks almost in
the same vein: “Whom you want to kill is none but you; whom you want to bind is
none other than you, To kill anyone is to kill oneself; compassion towards
creatures is compassion towards oneself”.
In these sayings of Lord Mahavir we find an echo of Advaita Vedanta.
Conclusion
Vedanta is as
old as the Vedas and is the basis of various Indian philosophical systems. Although Vedanta had always been a practical
scheme of life as well, for the modern times Swami Vivekananda has given it a
new interpretation called ‘Practical Vedanta”.
From the above analysis, it will also be evident that although Jainism may
have philosophical as well as empirical differences from traditional Hinduism,
there are much more similarities than differences between Jainism and Vedanta,
especially Practical Vedanta. Besides,
Swami Vivekananda’s definition of Vedanta is very wide, all comprehensive and
all-inclusive. According to it, religion
is Vedanta and all the different religions—Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism—are
included into it. Even if one may not
accept this interpretation of Vedanta, one would find a lot of similarities
between Jainism and Vedanta. Not only
this, the two systems can help and enrich each other—as it should be. Vedanta can gain something from Jainism and
Jainism too can be benefited by Vedanta, without in any way compromising their special features or originality.
For example,
‘Service of man considering him God’ (Shiva jnane jiva seva) can easily
become a part of Jain system of life, since it accepts every soul as a pure,
free, conscious entity. It is gratifying
to note that a number of Jain organizations have nowadays undertaken philanthropic
activities. The followers of Practical
Vedanta can gain much my learning to pay greater stress on Tapas as done
in Jainism. Vedantins can also make
better use of universal Navakar Mantra of Jainism and the practice of
forgiveness in Jainism. Navakar Mantra is an extremely liberal and
effective Mantra wherein salutation are offered to saints, acharyas, preachers,
perfected souls and prophets of all religions.
None can have any grudge in accepting such a liberal, non-sectarian
mantra and part of their practice.
The Jains seek
forgiveness from all creatures of the world chanting the following verse:
“I forgive all
creatures, may all creatures forgive me.
I have
friendship with everyone, and enmity towards none.”
No true religion
preaches hatred, separation or conflict.
It brings people together and spreads goodwill. This had been the aim of both Jainism and
Vedanta. This is why in India
