Reasons why Jainism can not win against Vedics
There are a lot of good things Jainism can offer which are very useful for individuals and communities for spiritual and material progress; but in spite of this Jainism has become a religion of a micro-minority community. This is the most ignored Indian religion by people of India.
On the other hand, the Vedic Brahmins, who are also in minority, have always succeeded to defeat Jainism, many times using latter’s merits.
There are some internal reasons for this. Although Jainism is a great religion, the people who have become owners of this religion are not so great, and therefore solely responsible for this defeat.
Comparison between Jains and Vedics
Let us take the example of Ayurveda. There was a great contribution by ancient Jain Acharyas in research and progress of this medical science. But this was always on paper or verbal. Jains never applied it to cure diseases of people. On the contrary, the Vedic Brahmins, used Ayurveda as an applied science. Even today, we can not get a single medicine in the market which is made according to Jain Ayurveda. What a sad thing, the Jain monks who always speak about the greatness of Jainism, always oppose use of Allopathic medicine, are dependant of Vedic Ayurveda, even after having their own Jain Ayurveda.
Another example is of Mathematics. Jain Acharya developed mathematics to a great degree in ancient and medieval times. We all know that zero was invented by Indians, but who were they? The oldest references to zero are in ancient Jain texts like Tiloyapannati and Sthanang Sutt. They knew about the concept of infinitive and discovered 8 types of infinitives. They developed formula for measuring the area of a Conch. But all this remained in books, all it was theoretical and they failed to promote its practical use. On the other hand, the Vedics were always successful to promote Vedic mathematics.
Further, Vedics are clever enough to keep touch with masses through temples and rituals. Jains failed to develop their own system where masses would get related themselves with Jainism. Most of the Jain temples are ‘private properties’ belonging to specific Jain communities where masses are not allowed.
Vedics have clearly separated the religion of ascetics and the religion of lay people. But Jains have failed to do it. Jain monks are forcing laypeople to follow unnecessary and complicated things, which are only meant to follow by the monks in their ascetic life.
So in my view, Jain will never win against Vedics. If they want to win, they will have to change. They will have to be practical and they will have to separate layman’s life from monkhood.
jainismus Mahavir Sanglikar
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