Liberation and Salvation

Many religions typically emphasize teachings concerning salvation or liberation, and Jainism is no exception. As our account will make clear, salvation depends on understanding the challenges of samsara and how to overcome them.

To begin, salvation in no way depends on the power of a deity. Just as Jainism has no creator god, neither does it have one to assist with the all-important quest for liberation. Some would thus label Jainism an atheistic religion, but this is not quite accurate. We have seen that in the Jain cosmology, deities inhabit the various heavens. Many of their names would be recognizable to the student of Hinduism, for the pantheons are similar. Thus, Jainism might best be labeled transtheistic^ in the sense that there are gods (in fact, a great variety of gods), but ultimately the religion moves beyond them when it comes to the truly crucial issues of salvation. To understand why this is so, let us first examine Jainism’s concept of karma.

Karma and the Human Condition

Notwithstanding the intricate categories of existence, so far as the human condition is concerned, Jainism is best understood in terms of two categories: soul (jiva) and matter (ajiva). As noted earlier, the jiva is essentially pure and formless. And yet, for reasons that defy explanation, souls have become entwined with impure matter, causing them to be weighed down and bound to samsara. Human beings are born into this state. The religious life strives to clean away the dirt that tarnishes the jiva, returning it to its original state of pristine purity and releasing it from samsara, so it can ascend upward to the “umbrella” ceiling of the loka, the realm of liberated souls.

For Jains, the term karma refers to the process in which matter dirties the soul. In both Hinduism and Buddhism, karma is commonly understood as involving the law of cause and effect.

Along with this emphasis on the material aspects of karma, Jainism also emphasizes the intentions behind one’s actions. That is, the immorality that tarnishes the soul with heavy matter lies mainly in the evil intention, not in the consequence of the action. Similarly, an action that might appear to have evil consequence could be considered moral if good was intended. For example, the accidental killing of microbes, provided proper means were taken to avoid it, would generally not be immoral and thus would not lead to the dirtying of the jiva.

Kevala. Omniscience That Leads to Liberation

Kevala, best translated as “omniscience,” is knowledge of everything: the nature of one’s inner self, of one’s past lives, and of the external world and all things, including fellow living beings (and their past lives and future lives) that inhabit it. Little wonder that Jainism so boldly sets forth cosmological explanations, based as they are on the omniscience of Mahavira and the other tirthankaras. One who has attained this state is a kevalin.

The most significant feature of kevala is that it frees the jiva completely from the tarnishing effects of karma so that it may be liberated. The final experience of liberation or release is known as moksha (as it is in Hinduism). Moksha and kevala are distinguishable in that one who has attained kevala normally goes on living in the physical body, confined to the realm of samsara, while one who achieves moksha is liberated from the body.

You might ask at this point, does omniscience lead to the purity of the soul, or does purification of the soul bring about omniscience? A Jain would respond by asserting that the two work together harmoniously. This notion of religious impulses working in harmony is embodied in the Jain concept of the Three Jewels of the religion: right faith (darshand), right knowledge (jnana), and right practice (charitrd). All three are integral to the religious quest. Right faith, which for Jainism involves a proper outlook or mindset, the correct way of “seeing” (which is the root meaning of darshana}, nurtures right knowledge and practice. Likewise for the other Jewels; they function together like three legs of a stool.

The Quest for a Heavenly Rebirth

We have noted that Jambu, the last of Mahavira’s eleven disciples to attain kevala, is believed to be the last person of this world in the current cycle ever to achieve liberation. But this does not imply that for Jains living since Jambu’s time it is meaningless to seek liberation. Every living being remains destined for rebirth, and the nature of rebirth depends on karmic status. A good rebirth, into the delights of one of the heavens or back into the human realm, therefore requires living a good life.

In contrast to the beliefs of most Hindus (and some Buddhists), Jainism understands rebirth as occurring immediately after death. This has various implications that set Jainism apart from Hinduism, especially in regard to the need to perform rituals on behalf of the dead. For Jains, such rituals are deemed superfluous—which is not to say that Jains forgo mourning rituals or that they fail to honor their deceased loved ones. But the most crucial thing, the destiny of the deceased’s soul, is determined as soon as the person dies. In fact, the soul is believed immediately to begin animating another life form.

Having examined the primary teachings of Jainism, we now turn our attention to the various ways these teachings have been manifested in Jain society and rituals.

Self-Assessment 6.1

[Please note: You must be using an online, browser-based eReader in order to view this content.]