Jainism and Doctor Strange
An Exploration Into the Five Samvayas
Written by Deesha Ajmera and Siddharth Challani
***This article contains spoilers!***
As you might remember, Dr. Stephen Strange’s story starts out as a portrait of a successful young man in the prime of his life. A brilliant surgeon at the peak of his career, Strange has it all — fame, money, and a healthy dose of arrogance. But his charmed lifestyle comes to an abrupt halt when reckless driving puts him back in the operating room — as a patient. Having suffered extensive nerve damage, he is told he will never operate again.
Unwilling to accept this prognosis, Strange puts himself through extensive rehabilitation and spends his fortune looking for a cure — but his efforts are unsuccessful. Having lost his skills, his wealth, and his place in society, his self-worth crumbles and he becomes increasingly desperate, eventually sinking into a deep depression.
Just when he has lost all hope, Strange hears rumors about the Ancient One, an enlightened mystic whose powers transcend reality. He spends his last pennies to travel to her doorstep halfway around the world and beg for her help — but his plea is rejected. Instead, he is given the choice to learn from her and other masters. Unconvinced at first, his skepticism slowly fades and he embraces the mystical world. Ultimately, he is able to reorient his spirit, become a powerful sorcerer with the ability to bend time, and use his newfound powers to help the world overcome an unimaginable evil.
In addition to thrilling with fast-paced action and mind-bending magic, Doctor Strange teaches important lessons about the value of humility and the fine line between self-belief and arrogance. Stephen Strange’s character development throughout the movie provides a useful illustration of a particular Jain concept, as demonstrated below. Understanding how to leverage this concept can give us more control over the events which shape our world and our soul.
In Jainism, all outcomes are determined by the 5 Samvayas, or causal factors, each of which contributes to determining how a situation plays out. At a glance, they are as follows: Käl (time), Swabhäv (nature), Niyati (destiny), Karma, and Purushärth (self-effort) — visit this link for a quick overview! While each Samvaya plays a role in every situation, some can play larger roles than others, depending on the situation.
Taking a second look, it is clear these factors lined up at the right time in Strange’s journey to regain his mobility, gain powers, and defeat evil.
- If not for his previously accumulated Karma, Dr. Strange wouldn’t have had the ability to learn complex subjects or develop the skills necessary to become a successful neurosurgeon, and later magician. Karma theory explains that our current circumstances are shaped by the nature of our past actions and that our future circumstances continue to be shaped by our present ones.
- Strange’s debilitating car accident leaves him feeling helpless and broken. The fact that Strange had to suffer and persevere through this despair because of his karma is part of his fate. Niyati, or destiny, represents the idea that the fruition of karma, like Thanos, is inevitable.
- Dr. Strange hears about the Ancient One’s abilities after his accident when he meets a patient (now fully healed) that he had previously deemed untreatable. If this encounter had happened at a different moment in time, he may not have been desperate enough to seek out the Ancient One or as willing to accept her teachings. Käl, or time, highlights the importance of when an event occurs on the event’s outcomes.
- Furthermore, as the Ancient One says — only he has the innate ability to wield the magical power needed to defeat Dormammu, the extraterrestrial being threatening the survival of the world. In the context of the story, this illustrates Swabhäv, which represents the intrinsic nature or immutable quality of things. In keeping with the tradition of superhero exceptionalism, Strange’s innate powers leave him uniquely poised to determine the fate of the world.
Even with all of these factors lining up, Doctor Strange’s story could have ended after his accident (and doomed the world in the process) without the fifth and last causal factor: Purushärth, or self-effort.
- Strange’s own efforts to relentlessly pursue a cure for his injury, as well as the decisions that he continues to make after he is cured — to learn sorcery, to maintain faith in the Ancient One’s teachings even after learning about her secret use of dark magic, and to eventually fight Dormammu — arguably have the greatest influence on the direction of the story and its conclusion.
Note: While our previously accumulated karma does play a role in determining our present and future situations, our actions and decisions in the present bind karma that continues to define our futures. Purushärth describes the intent that guides our actions; as such, it is the causal factor that we have the most control over.
While we can map out the roles played by the five Samvayas in Doctor Strange to a certain degree, the correlations between the Samvayas and the effects they cause are not always easy to understand. However, learning how the Samvayas affect the events in our lives helps shape our intent and guides our decisions — we hope this article serves as a stepping stone (or portal, if you may) to further understand this concept. By exercising control over our intent, we can lead meaningful lives and further our spiritual progress as Jains!
To learn more about the five Samvayas and explore examples around the categorization and analysis of causal relationships, please check out the YJA Pathshala module on Samvayas at https://yja.org/pathshala!
—
If anything in this article has offended you or gone against the teachings of Bhagwan Mahavir, we sincerely ask for forgiveness. Michhami Dukkadam!
