Source Book in Jaina Philosophy

SR No.: 001263
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Devendramuni
Publisher: Tarak Guru Jain Granthalay
Publication Year: 1983
Total Pages: 590
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Philosophy
File Size: 10 MB

Page 252

À SOURCE-BOOK IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY
231
at the time of Moksa : What is the state of the soul when it is liberated from the body? There are different interpretation on this question based on the different philosophical predilections.
The Nyāya-Vaiseșika and Sankhya-Yoga maintain that the soul is all-prevading. They also maintain that there are many souls. According to this interpretation, the liberated souls do not possess, different states from those that they possessed in the saṁsāra. In the state of liberation the souls become free from the gross bodies and also from the subtle bodies which is due to a gross body. The Jivātman or a Puruşa becomes different from the differentiated states and becomes all-pervading.
The Kevalādvaitin maintains that the ātman i. e., the Brahman has vyāpakatva, but there is no plurality. According to this theory, in the liberated souls the soul becomes free from the subtle bodies which is antahkarana. As a consequence of this, freedom from the subtle body, the soul is free from all empirical adjuncts. It realises the state of the Brahman. The difference between the souls that are liberated and the souls that are in bondage is with reference to the freedom and the presence of the sūkşma śarīra and the empirical adjuncts. The absence of the empirical adjuncts (upādhi) in the liberated state does not mean that the liberated soul is different from the empirical soul, it is the Brahmasvarūpa in its pure form.
The Madhva philosophy posits the souls as atomic in nature. They are different from Pārabrahman. According to this school of thought, the liberated soul lives in the sānnidhya of Visņu.
Similarly, those who maintain the soul as atomic in nature like the Visiştādvait in accept the plurality of souls. But in its real nature, the soul is not different from the Pārabrahman. When the soul is liberated it reaches the Brahmaloka and gets merged in the Brahman.
According to Vallabhācārya, souls are atomic in nature, but at the same time souls reach the state of Brahma in their state of merger with the Brahnan. Some souls get merged with the Brahma but some other souls, due to devotional preponderance enter the saṁsāra in the state of practical liberation for the sake of expression of devotion.