Jainism : An Existential Humanistic Perspective

Jainism is a very ancient religion as well as philosophy, which rise in the East of Asia. Today, it has flourished in almost all the parts of the world because of its three basic principles - nonviolence, non-possession and non-absolutism. Jainism opposes the existence of God as the creator, the sustainer and the destructor of the world. It believes in the doctrine of karma/action where man is the creator of his own destiny. Karma is the natural moral law of the universe in which every good and bad action has a corresponding effect on the doer. Jainas admit that karma determines their rebirth form - good karma results in a higher spiritual and favorable physical form and conversely bad karma has adverse results. However, in the present work only present birth is taken into consideration. Though I have unheeded the explanations of soul undergoing rebirth, etc., in the chapters but to make the context clear, clarifications have been given as and when needed.

Jainas ultimate aim is to be free from karmas and attain liberation. With this purpose, man, in order to achieve the ultimate goal, willingly or authentically practices nonviolence, friendliness, truth, celibacy, equality, love, etc. values and thus prepares the ground for world peace and humanity.

Contrary to this, Existentialism, the concept or a philosophy, which came into existence in the late 19th and 20th century with Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). Soren Kierkegaard is generally considered to have been the first existentialist philosopher, though he did not use the term existentialism. Existentialism became popular in the years following World War II, and strongly influenced many disciplines besides philosophy, including theology, drama, art, literature, and psychology.

Existentialist shares the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject-not merely the thinking subject, but the subject of acting, feeling, living human individual. Besides Kierkepard notable proponents of existentialism are Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), Albert Camus (1913-1960), Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980).

Jean-Paul Sartre is a leading french existentialist and challenging thinker of twentieth century. He wrote many philosophical works, novels and plays. He has, also written on diverse topics such as, ontology, phenomenology, psychology, ethics, history, structuralism, etc. He was a towering personality in the field of literature as well as philosophy and took keen interest in the contemporary problems of the world peace and human fellowship. Much of his work is tied into politics. The essay Existentialism is Humanism is just one of his many works. Existentialism is a Humanism is a political essay that was written in 1945. Its purpose was to address a small public during World War II. He was the advocator of the radical freedom and concomitant personal responsibility of the individual. As an existentialist his fundamental and attractive idea was absolute human freedom. Being an atheist he does not believe in the existence of God. Sartre produces a fresh and apt picture of self-chosen being. For him, man is self-created and while self-creation he creates the whole humanity. Sartre emphasizes that each person is entirely the author of his choices-all significant aspects of own choices are unconstrained by outside influences.

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