Jaina Philosophy and Religion

SR No.: 001604
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nyayavijay
Publisher: B L Institute of Indology
Publication Year: 1998
Total Pages: 500
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Epistemology
File Size: 12 MB

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Jaina Philosophy and Religion
this objective, it is of no use. If it does not lead to bhāvapūjā, it cannot be regarded as yielding its proper fruits. The object of dravyapūjā is a symbol or an image of the supreme soul, whereas the object of bhāvapūjā is the supreme soul itself whereof it is a symbol or an image. Dravyapūjā is limited to a specific period of time within which it is completed. On the other hand, bhāvapūjā (constant recalling to mind the pure qualities of the supreme soul) has no limitations of space and time, it can be availed of at any place and at any time. While performing worldly activities, the heart of the devotee is constantly set on the supreme soul and its pure qualities, and in this way, he is constantly engrossed in bhāvapūjā. When a man vigilantly observes in his worldly dealings non-violence, truthfulness, honesty, etc., he is to be regarded as performing bhāvapūjā, rather suddhapūjā. Mind of the true worshipper remains always permeated with the devotion to the supreme soul and its pure qualities and as a result of which his life shines in its eternal purity.
The devotee worships the attachment-free embodied soul who destroyed mountains of karmas, attained omniscience, revealed and preached the highest truth and led the living beings on the path of liberation, in order that he may attain similar qualities. Again, so long as he does not attain the state of absolute non-attachment (vītarāgatā), he continues to pray: "May I remain in every birth and always devoted to the pure qualities of the attachment-free supreme soul so that I may not give way to bad qualities and fall into the state of degradation." If there is any one in the three worlds and in the three divisions of time who can save a living being from the cycle of births and deaths or from the attacks of miseries, it is only the attachment-free supreme soul or the dependence on its pure quality of non-attachment.
The state of complete non-attachment should be accepted as the ultimate goal and hence as the highest object of our meditation in order that we ourselves may attain that state. On the other hand, if we accept some individual afflicted with attachment as our highest ideal and hence meditate on him, then we nourish attachment and as a result of it make the bondage of worldly existence even stronger.
It is true that in the long journey leading to the ultimate state of nonattachment, many means are required. And it is necessary to accept them as intermediary ends at different stages' and to acquire them in an honest
1. Final effect (end) is achieved through stages, if the necessary conditions are available at proper times. The final product (effect) cloth comes into existence only after so