The idea of God

Lord Mahavira did not believe in the existence of God or in the idea of Avatars, direct descendants of God. He said that if you realise your own soul, you will attain liberation.

Although the Buddha denied the existence of God and the soul, he did believe in the inner Light and in an inner being, an inner existence. He said that it is our inner existence which is eventually freed from the fetters of ignorance.

The philosophies of the Buddha and Mahavira are very similar in many respects. Both of them share the goal of nirvana and both proclaim the principle of ahimsa or non-violence.

Lord Mahavira and Lord Buddha came from the same spiritual Home: the Heart-Nest of the Universal Light.

The Buddha embodied and revealed the Light-aspect. Mahavira embodied and revealed the Power-aspect.

Both Mahavira and the Buddha came from the Beauty of the Unknowable and returned to the Fragrance of the Unknowable.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Jainism: give life, take not, Agni Press, 1998
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/jgl