Ajivika- The life of the Lifeless: Philosophy and Doctrine

 



While we do not know what exactly the Ajivikas believed or practiced, we have indications to believe that they practiced an ancient form of Saivism, and their doctrines had some affinity with the ancient Pasupatha and Kala Mukha sects. The Ajivikas probably wandered as naked monks, like the monks of the Digambara sect of Jainism, begging for alms in the villages and using magic and fortune-telling to attract people and gain their attention.

According to the most celebrated teacher of the Ajivika sect, Makkali Gosala, there is no cause or basis for the sin of living beings. Neither is there a cause or basis for the purity of living beings. No deed can affect one’s future births. No human action, strength, courage, and human endurance can affect one’s destiny. All men are without power, strength, or virtue. They are driven by destiny, chance, and nature. 



The theory that Ajivikas believed in, was Fatalism. According to this doctrine, the world evolves and moves in a predetermined way, like the unfolding of the design of a tree hidden in its seed. There is no place for free will in the events of the world or in the birth and death of beings. Beings are not born on their own accord or according to their free will. Everything happens according to a predetermined plan or niyati based on its natural state (svabhava) and some fortuitous occurrence(sangati) It was around this principle that a new sect developed which consisted of naked wanderers who were dedicated to asceticism. The Ajivikas (Figure 12.9) introduced cosmic principles in place of the natural personification of the Vedas and the world-soul theory of the Upanishads. All three religions recognized the rule of natural law in the universe.

According to the Buddhist and Jain sources, Ajivikas believed in fate rather than karma. Gosala is said to have believed that the suffering and evil experienced by a being came not from his previous karma but from the fate to which he was subject. The Ajivikas discounted all human effort. Everything came out of fate and nothing could be done to change it. So there was no use fighting against it. They believed that the number of souls was infinite.

 

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