Aspects of Brahmanical Influence On Jaina Mythology

SR No.: 011037
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Shaktidhar Jha
Publisher: Bharat Bharti Bhandar
Publication Year: 1978
Total Pages: 315
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

Page 247

Institution of Class and Order
229
the two ends cease to be Puruşarthas and degrade to the state of vices called greed (lobha) and lust (baser Kāma). Hence, Artha and Kama are subordinated to Dharma
Like the Brahmanical epic-Puranic sources, the works under discussion also maintain that the moral, material and emotional or sexual interests of man must be co-ordinated to each other and the well-being of humanity consists in the harmonious conduct and managemeat of the three Purusarthas 134 Moreover, the proportionate service of the three ends not only leads one to worldly happiness but also brings about supreme bliss hereafter The importance of the regulated management of the goals has been variously emphasized Reference may be made, for example, to a dialogue between a king and his merchant friend, throwing sufficient light on the attitude of Puranic Jainism towards these ends. We are told that when asked by the king about the respective relationship between the aims of human existence, the discerning merchant avers that all the ends, when served by a right-thinking man, are mutually complementary to each other, but these turn non co-operative and even mutually antagonistic for a man of false intuition 185 Such examples can be multiplied to any number where harmonious co-existence of the goals as well as their proper quantum, place and time have been emphasized over and over again just in the same spirit as is evinced in the epics, the law-books and the Puränas of the Brahmanical school
The significance and value of the Puruşarthas as the vital urging forces of human life were so much left by the Jaina Purana writers that besides their illustration through suitable tales and anecdotes, the goals have been made bases of division of human being into different classes Silanka, for instance, has put mankind into six classes according to one's attitude towards the fo ir aims Tae six classes, as mentioned by Silanka, are136 (1) the worst (Ahamāhuma), (II) the bad (Ahama), (III) the
184 MP 51 8, 59,6b CMC p 3 TSPC 2 1 29; 21 225 Compare MBh II. Rāmā II, 100 62-63, IV 38 20b-21a, VI. 63 9-10,
5 19 20, V 37 50
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135 MP 46 333-334 186 CMC, p 2