Religions of India in Practice

The Jain Definition of God According to Ācārya Vijay Ānandsūri (Ātmārāmjī)

Ācārya Vijay Ānandsūri (1837-1896), better known as Ātmārāmjī, was the most important mendicant in a major reform movement within the Śvetāmbara Mūrtipūjaka community in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He took initiation as a mendicant in the iconoclastic Śvetāmbara Sthānakavāsī sect as Muni Ātmārāmjī in 1854, but after extensive reading in Jain literature became convinced of the truth of the Mūrtipūjaka position in favor of image worship, and so took a new initiation as a Mūrtipūjaka mendicant in Ahmedabad in 1876 along with eighteen disciples. His new Mūrtipūjaka name was Muni Ānand Vijay, later Ācārya Vijay Ānandsūri, but he was more commonly known by his Sthānakavāsī name.

He came into contact with European scholars of Jainism, and was invited to be the Jain delegate to the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. Since Jain mendicants, as part of their vow of total non-harm (ahiṃsā) cannot travel by any means of transport, it was impossible for him to attend. In his stead he sent a young Jain layman from Bombay, Virchand R. Gandhi. (Virchand was no relation to the better-known Mohandas K. [Mahatma] Gandhi, although the two did meet in Bombay in 1892.)

In this passage from his 1884 exposition on the true Jain religion, entitled The Ideals of the Jain Tenets, Ātmārāmjī responds to the criticism commonly made both by Europeans and by other Indians, that the Jains are atheists. He explains that the Jains do believe in God, but it is a God with a difference. In contrast to the Christian and many Hindu definitions of God, according to the Jains (as well as many Buddhists and other Hindus) the universe has existed from beginningless time, and so God did not create the universe. The Jain position that God did not create the universe is not unusual in India. Many theologies and cosmologies view God and the universe as separately eternal and uncreated. God for the Jains, in fact, is the totality of all the Jinas and other perfected souls (siddhas), that is, all of the souls that have attained enlightenment and liberation, and reside at the top of the universe eternally in the four infinitudes of infinite knowledge, infinite perception, infinite bliss, and infinite power. On the one hand there is an uncountable number of such souls; on the other hand, since they are essentially indistinguishable one from the other, they take on a corporate identity. Thus God for the Jains is simultaneously plural and singular.

The proof text employed by Ātmārāmjī is the medieval Sanskrit Bhaktāmara Stotra of Mānatuṅgasūri, a hymn that is accepted as authoritative by both Śvetāmbaras and Digambaras, and is still known by heart by thousands of Jains today. Many of the epithets for the Jina in the hymn are epithets of the Buddha and the Hindu gods Viṣṇu, Śiva, and Brahmā. Ātmārāmjī explains how these epithets are to be correctly understood when applied to the Jina.

The passage is translated from Ācārya Vijay Ānandsūri, Jain Tattvādarś. 2 vols., edited by Banārsīdās Jain (Ambala: Śrī Ātmānand Jain Mahāsabhā Panjāb, 1936), vol. 1, pp. 80-85. Originally published in Bombay in 1884.

Q 1: We have heard that the Jains do not believe in God (Iśvar). Their tradition is atheist. But in the first chapter you have written in many places “Lord God Arhat” (Arhant Bhagvant Parameśvar), and the first chapter gives a complete description of the Lord (Bhagavān). How is this possible?

A: Oh, faithful one! Whoever says that those people whose support is the Jain tradition do not believe in God is mistaken. They have never read or heard the scriptures of the Jain tradition, nor have they ever met an educated Jain. Those who have read or heard the Jain scriptures never say that the Jains don’t believe in God. If the Jains don’t believe in God, then whom does the following verse praise?

You are imperishable, mighty, unknowable, uncountable, primordial,
Brahmā, Īśvara, infinite, destroyer of Kama,

Lord of yogis, knower of yoga, many, one, the embodiment of knowledge,
stainless: the saints call you by these names.

Bhaktāmara Stotra 24

This verse means as follows. Hey Jina! The saints, the people of truth, call you imperishable, that is, unchanging. The one who attains to the state of unchangingness from the perspective of physical things is unchanging, and exists in a single innate form in the three times of past, present, and future. He is mighty, he shines; he who exists in lordship is mighty. Or, the one who uproots karma is mighty. Or, he who is the Lord of Indra and the other celestial beings is mighty. In this way the true people call you “Mighty.” How are you to be described? Unknowable, for the spiritual knower cannot comprehend your totality, in this way the true people call you “Unknowable.” How are you to be described? Uncountable, for you have so many virtues that they cannot be counted, and for this reason the true people call you “Uncountable.” How are you to be described? Primordial, the one who was in the beginning. Because you set in motion the affairs of the world, the saints call you “Primordial.” How are you to be described? Brahma, from existing in infinite bliss, you are the foremost increaser, so the true people call you “Brahmā.” How are you to be described? Īśvara, the Lord of all the celestial beings. Because you are the master, they call you “Īśvara.” How are you to be described? Infinite, that is, infinite knowledge, and your union with perception is infinite. Or, that of which there is no finitude is infinite. Or, the one who resides in the four—infinite knowledge, infinite power, infinite bliss, and infinite life—is called “Infinite.” How are you to be described? Destroyer of Kama, from being a destroyer just as the arising of Ketu was to Kāma, they call you “Destroyer of Kāma.” Or, he is called “Destroyer of Kāma” whose bodily marks indicate no gross physical body, who is not subject to change, who does not eat, who is not virile, who does not act. What do your Vedic followers call you? “Lord of Yogis.” A yogi is one who possesses the four knowledges [sensory knowledge, reason, clairvoyance, telepathy] and because he is Lord, he is called “Lord of Yogis.” How are you to be described? Knower of yoga, the one whose form is correct knowledge, and so on. Or, the one who does yoga of meditation, and so on. Or especially, the one who destroys the bonds between karma and soul. Thus you are called “Knower of Yoga.” How are you to be described? Many, from being omnipresent due to knowledge. Or, unifying the various perfections. Or, from consideration of the many virtues. Or, due to the separation of the many virtues. Or, due to the separation of the Jinas Ṛṣabha, and so on, from humanity, they call you “Separate.” How are you to be described? One, without a second, the highest of the high. Or, from consideration of the category of soul, they call you “One.” How are you to be described? Embodiment of knowledge, whose own nature is solely the knowledge of the extinction of all desires to be active. Thus they call you “Embodiment of Knowledge.” How are you to be described? Stainless, who are not dirty from the eighteen forms of fault, for this reason they call you “Stainless.” It is proven through these fifteen descriptions that the Jains are among the traditions that believe in God.

You are the true Buddha, for the knowledge praised by the wise awakens in you.

You are Śaṅkara, for you make the triple world happy.

You are the Creator, firm one, for you show the rules of the rites on the holy path.

It is obvious, Lord, only you are the best of men.

Bhaktāmara Stotra 25

This means: He is worshiped as wise and is honored by the wise celestial beings.

From displaying excellent wisdom among the seven excellent things, You are called “Buddha.” From creating happiness in the triple world, You are called “Śaṅkara,” for the one who creates (kara) contentment and happiness (śam) is Śaṅkara. Because you establish the path to liberation, consisting of knowledge, faith, and conduct, you are “Brahma the Creator.” Lord! Among mortal forms yours is the best. There are hymns with hundreds of thousands of verses just like this one to God (Parameśvar). If people say that Jains don’t believe in God, then to whom are these hymns addressed? Therefore, those who say that Jains do not believe in God speak falsely.

Q 2: You have removed that doubt from my mind very effectively. But I still have one doubt. You believe in God, but is it believed in the Jain tradition that God created the world or not?

A: Oh, faithful one! If it could be proven that God created the world, then why wouldn’t Jains believe it? But there is no proof that God created the world.

Removal of Doubts Concerning Worship of the Blessed Jina According to Paṅnyās Bhadraṅkar Vijay Gaṇi

Bhadraṅkar Vijay (1903-1980), who was in the same monastic lineage as Ātmārāmjī, was one of the most highly revered of all Śvetāmbara Mūrtipūjaka monks of this century. He was esteemed as a great mystic, who was able to expound the spiritual significance of rites of worship and of the Namaskāra Mantra. In these two passages from his writings he responds to the questions of an imaginary interlocutor concerning the suitability of worshiping images of Jinas with physical offerings. The objections are of three sorts. The first is that since God [the Jina] resides in total dispassion at the top of the universe, God is totally absent from the image, and the worship therefore should be inefficacious. The second objection is that worship involving physical objects also involves an element of harm (hiṃsa) to living beings, and therefore runs counter to the central Jain ethical principle of non-harm (ahiṃsā) to all living beings. The third objection is that since God is pure soul, and therefore is totally removed from the realm of karma and physical matter, it is a contradiction to worship God with physical offerings, which involves the worshiper in interaction with karma. Bhadraṅkar Vijay uses many similes for God, all of which are essentially interchangeable; these are indicated in the translation. He also uses the terms pūjā and darśan interchangeably; I have translated both as “worship.”

The first translation is from Paṅnyās Bhadraṅkar Vijay Gaṇi, Dharm-Śraddhā (“Faith in Religion”) (Bombay: Jain Sāhitya Vikās Maṇḍal, 1978), pp. 91-102. This was originally published in 1942. The second is from the same author’s Paramātmā Darśan (“The Worship of God”), Hindi translation by Muni Ratnasenvijay (Madras: Svādhyāy Saṅgh, 1986), pp. 47-50. This was a loose translation of the Gujarati Dev Darśan, 1941.

A: The God who is dispassionate, the guru who is celibate, and the religion which consists of compassion—these are pure. Those who have attained a human birth because of auspicious karma, but who then follow a passionate god, a householder guru, and a harmful religion, fall under the control of a passionate obstinacy and squander this much-sought-after human birth.

Q 2: What are the marks of the true God (deva), and what is the manner of worshiping Him?

A: The one who has attained victory over all internal enemies, who is omniscient, who is honored in the three worlds, and who expounds the true meaning—whoever fits this is the true God (Īśvar). His names include Viṣṇu, Brahmā, Mahādeva, Śaṅkara, Jina, Kevalin, Arhat, and Tīrthaṅkara. The worship (pūjā) of God (Parameśvar) involves reciting his name, worship (darśan) of his image, remembrance of his biography and virtues, and praising him. From these four kinds of worship (pūjā) the soul becomes itself the very form of God (Bhagavān).

Q 3: The great fruits of devotion are expounded in the scriptures. What is their cause?

A: In the scriptures, the fruits of devotion of God (Arihant) are described as the best of all fruits, because God’s conduct is pure and his teachings are pure. Those who know the teachings of God who gives the pure teaching, but who don’t perform devotion of God, have their fierce atoms become stronger, and there isn’t even a trace of moderation in their exaggerated speech. Those men who are knowledgeable receive the knowledge of the teachings of God, and while traveling toward liberation they greatly desire to do service of God. Devotion of God destroys both separation from oneself and contact with harmful karma; it spreads glory throughout the world; and the person attains a birth such as a world emperor, a celestial being, an Indra, and so on. The person who has no faith in God is unsuccessful in this human life, misses the highest fruit, acts ignorantly, becomes an authority in harmful karma, and abuses rites such as asceticism, mantra repetition, study, and meditation. Those who reject God in their quest for liberation and instead go to other gods abandon the water of the ocean of peace from thirst and fall into a whirlpool. Those who do not accept the pure teachings of God destroy logic and are called destroyers of logic. For such a person the spiritual knowledge of God is unobtainable, the speech of preachers is unknowable, and pure sense-objects remain invisible. But all these are accessible to true yogis. Those who don’t believe in a creator and sustainer of the world meditate on the God as Arhat, the true form of Brahmā, who aids all souls. They are successful, they acquire meritorious karma, their life is meaningful, and their minds become ever attached to the virtues of God.

Q 4: These are the fruits of reciting the names or virtues of God (Bhagavān); but what benefit is attained from worship of his image?

A: The name of God is just an inanimate thing. Although inanimate, the name becomes a support to the recitation of the virtues of God. But the inanimate image of God is a superior support for introducing one to the ultimate innate form of God. From praising, and so on, the image of God, one attains a great fruit in the form of right faith. One becomes attached to the supporting meritorious karma of the path to liberation, and that which is meaningless becomes the success of meaningfulness. The peaceful image of God causes one to remember the virtues of God, and one attains all one’s desires, just as from a wishing-gem. Those who worship the image of God from a sentiment of covetousness are unfortunate, for the wishing-gem slips out of their fingers. After attaining the arising of the supreme meritorious karma, they then gamble with desire, and the wishing-tree in the courtyard of their house withers.

Q 5: If a householder performs only spiritual (bhāva) worship, and not physical (dravya) worship, then will it work or not?

A: It won’t work. A householder is always subject to violence and possessiveness. He is always troubled with worries. Because of these worries his intellect is trapped. Therefore a householder’s mind cannot remain stable without an external support. In order to maintain stability of mind, he must worship (pūjā) God with form, he must perform daily service to the mendicants, and he must perform religious rites such as gifting in the full ritual manner.

Besides, the householder remains engaged in objectionable activities. He is always engaged in obtaining worldly wealth. He is engaged in the discipline of materialism for wealth and the prosperity of his family. He is always pursuing business, and is dejected when he is financially dependent. So it is impossible for his mind to remain stable from mental worship alone.

Not only that, all his other activities involve physical matter and are successful, so therefore his mind is satisfied in the realm of religion by physical things. Since his mind is oppressed with worldly worries and intrigues, he cannot attain any result through spiritual worship. A householder is involved with physical things, so his religion cannot be successful without physical worship.

A: An inanimate thing surely provides results. For those who worship the form, there is a connection between the form and religion. He who sees that which is fully embodied as only a puppet is stuck in delusion. In the Scripture on Love there is the example that the lustful person experiences all the feelings of sex just from the sexual postures. In the Yoga Scripture, it is said that the person studying yoga finds his study of yoga improved from sitting in the yoga posture. One can clearly learn about all the cities in the world from studying geography. A wise person learns many new things from reading the physical letters in books. In the same way, by worshiping the image of one’s own God one stands firm in the path of remembering his laudable virtues.

The greatness of images and forms is explained in worldly books and common parlance. When her husband is absent, the faithful woman looks at his lifeless photograph and experiences pleasure and bliss. This is a fact well known to faithful women. When the faithful Sītā was separated from Rāma, she experienced pleasure by clinging to his ring, and Rāma experienced the pleasure of having Sītā present just by holding her jewelry. When Rāma was dwelling in the forest, Bharata worshiped Rāma’s sandals as if they were Rāma himself. In the Mahābhārata it is written that the tribal hunter Lavya attained a knowledge of archery that equaled Arjuna’s just by worshiping the image of Droṇa. [Several other similar examples are omitted.]

In this way there are many kinds of results from the images of physical objects. Not only that, but the images of even nonphysical things have an effect in the world. The zero, the letters from a to z, the physical categories such as earth, the rāgas described in music theory, outer space, the wind, and similar things are not physical, but many activities are based upon their existence. In this manner, the worshiper gains the greatest fruits when, with an auspicious intention, he considers the formless God (Īśvar) as having a form. The formless God does not derive anything either karmically auspicious or harmful from the worship of the formless God through the physical image, but the worshiper definitely does.

A person throws a rock at a wall made of diamond, or holds a lamp up to the sun, or criticizes or praises the emperor; nothing happens to the emperor, but the one who criticizes or praises definitely accrues some auspicious or harmful fruit. In the same manner, God does not accrue any fruit from the worship of the physical image of the formless God, but the worshiper from his auspicious intention, or the abuser from his harmful intention, definitely accrues auspicious or harmful fruit. Besides, there is no unanimity of opinion in the Jain teachings that God is formless. The formless God might first be in a condition with form, and then in a formless condition.

Q 7: Why doesn’t the fruit from worship (pūjā) of God (Parameśvar) accrue immediately?

A: Everything comes to fruition in its own time and place. Birth occurs after nine months. The fruit of repeating a mantra one thousand times, one hundred thousand times, or ten million times occurs later. Different plants have their own time and place of fruition. Government service, commercial transactions, and so on, all have their own time of fruition. The supreme fruit from such an excellent ritual as worship comes in one’s next birth. From a wishing-stone and other such this-worldly and insignificant things one attains fruits in this life. The merit from worship gives not an insignificant human fruit, but rather a much-desired fruit such as rebirth as a celestial being.

There are various kinds of meritorious karma in the world. Here one finds the fruits of many kinds of meritorious and harmful karmas. If one is stingy in giving to a king, then one attains the great fruit of execution. He who ably serves a king attains the fruit of enjoyment, as does his whole family. In the same way, those who worship God out of a supreme sentiment get fruit in this life in the form of wealth and also quite definitely get even better rewards in the next life.

A: There are many lovely similes for the temple. The temple is a book that teaches the ignorant people caught in the cycle of rebirth. It is like a lamp for the forgetful person who has fallen in the cycle of rebirth. It is a peaceful place for an agitated heart. It is an herb for healing a wound. It is an eternal wishing-tree in a world of rocks. It is a mountain of shining snow. It is sweet water in the midst of the salty ocean. It is the living breath of the saints. It is an unfailing teaching for bad people. It is the pure memory of former times. It is the playhouse for the soul in the present. It is a feast for the future. It is the path to heaven. It is the pillar of liberation. It is the lock on the door to hell. It is a lake of nectar in the form of knowledge of the soul. It is a strong fortress to protect one from the misfortunes in the cycle of rebirth.

A: God (Tīrthaṅkaradev) is your ancestor. It is not the same as worshiping the emperors of great kingdoms. There is only one reason for worshiping the Tīrthaṅkaras: they have shown you the path to liberation. They have traveled this path themselves, and have also taught you how to travel this path. Therefore you should worship them. You worship their virtues. If you do not think those virtues are the most excellent, then you do not respect the Tīrthaṅkaras themselves, but only their outer form. The respect of those who do not focus on the nature of the virtues of the Tīrthaṅkaras is worthless. The Tīrthaṅkaras are true, and what they have done and the path they have taught are true. The person who in the fullness of faith worships them grasps this path and is engrossed in it.

The worship performed by people who worship the Tīrthaṅkaras without understanding the renunciatory path of the Tīrthaṅkaras is not considered to be real worship. It is considered to be real worship of the Tīrthaṅkaras and respect for their teachings of the renunciatory path only if the person incorporates those virtues in his life. Without this, it is not really worship of the Tīrthaṅkaras, whether it be done out of fondness, tradition, or worldly desires.

Q 1: Is it possible for there to be any benefit to that which is conscious from an inanimate image (mūrti)?

A: The glass of eyeglasses is inanimate, but isn’t there a benefit to the eye? Of course there is! Your eyes cannot see even two miles, but with the aid of a telescope they can see fifty miles. From an inanimate blanket the cold is removed from the conscious body, so why can’t there be benefit to the soul from an inanimate image?

Q 2: What is the basis for the benefit from worship (darśan) of God (Paramātmā)?

A: From worship of God an auspicious karmic sentiment arises in the soul. At the time of worshiping God the worshiper becomes humble, and sings praises of God, from which a sentiment of gratefulness becomes evident. From this gratefulness, knowledge-obscuring and other karmas are destroyed, and the soul gradually advances on the path to liberation.

Q 3: It is said in the scriptures that positive results are obtained from worship of God, so why doesn’t everyone get those positive results?

A: There is no doubt that in the worship of God there is the power to give positive results as described in the scriptures. But positive results accrue only from rites which are done according to the proper ritual rules. Positive results do not accrue from any rite that is not done according to the proper ritual rules, where the ritual rules are incompletely followed, or that is done in opposition to the ritual rules. It is necessary to follow the proper ritual rules in all rites, even those such as farming, cooking, and business. Hence in this way, by performing the rite according to the proper ritual rules, it is certain that devotion (bhakti) to God gives results.

Q 4: It is possible to perform devotion to God by reciting the names of God (nām-smaraṇ), so why is it necessary to perform rites to images (pratimā-pūjan)?

A: If it were possible to perform devotion to God only through reciting the names of God, then wouldn’t it also be possible to perform devotion to the guru through just reciting the names? But in addition to reciting the name, the guru is given obeisance, veneration, respect, food, and water. In the same manner it is necessary to perform veneration and rites along with reciting the names of God.

Q 5: In the worship of God, minute living beings are killed, so aren’t these rites therefore unworthy?

A: The injury that occurs to souls in water and vegetable bodies in the worship of God is beneficial to householders, according to the example of the well. This example is as follows: A person is traveling through the jungle during the hot season, and due to the heat begins to feel thirsty. He looks for water everywhere, but can’t find any. In the end, he comes to a dry riverbed, and he learns from someone that water can be found by digging just a little bit in the riverbed. He is very thirsty, so when he learns this he digs in the riverbed. His thirst grows even greater from the exertion of digging, and his shirt becomes dirty from sweat, but due to the hope of finding water he becomes indifferent to the exertion. In the end, after he finally finds water, he can forget about the exertion. See! In the same way, there is a small amount of injury done to living creatures in the worship of God, but in the auspicious perseverance of devotion to God, that violence is the cause of great gain.

Q 6: If the worship of images is esteemed, why don’t mendicants perform worship with physical things (dravya)?

A: To a slight extent mendicants do perform worship with physical things. They go to the temple, fold their hands before the image, perform veneration, bow their heads, sing hymns, give intentions—in this way mendicants worship with physical things. The Rite of Veneration is a spiritual (bhāva) form of worship, but in it there are also bodily obeisance and other physical forms of worship.

Mendicants have renounced money, therefore what is forbidden for them is to perform worship with physical things that have to be purchased with physical money, such as incense, lights, sandalwood, rice, and food.

Q 7: There is no benefit to God (Jineśvar) from the worship of God, so isn’t the worship of God therefore useless?

A: There is no benefit to God from the worship, but there is definitely a benefit to the worshiper. From the repetition of a mantra, tending a fire, or studying science there is no benefit to the mantra, fire, or science. But from repeating a mantra, poison is destroyed; from tending a fire, cold is destroyed; and from studying science, there is surely an increase in the student’s knowledge. In the same manner, from the worship of God the auspicious perseverance of the worshiper increases, and from that there surely is dissociation from previously acquired karmas and the association with meritorious karma.

Q 8: The Lord is self-sufficient in satisfaction, so therefore how do we get any benefit from worship?

A: The Lord is self-sufficient in satisfaction, which is why he is a suitable object of worship. In addition, it is because the Lord is self-sufficient in satisfaction that he performed the great beneficence of establishing the religion for the benefit of faithful souls. His beneficence upon us is immeasurable. He is the fulfillment of all virtues, which is why he is the suitable object of the best worship.