Introduction to Jainism and its Culture

SR No.: 001605
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Balbhadra Jain
Publisher: Kundkund Gyanpith Indore
Publication Year: 2002
Total Pages: 334
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Religion, & Culture
File Size: 21 MB

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kurmas to become the sublime self. After that they eternally dwelt within that state. Such sublime soul is called supreme-soul or God.
This discussion has two inferences – One, that God is nowhere outside, every soul has the power to become God. In other words Godhood exists within every soul. And two, that efforts should me made to know the process that turns soul into supreme-soul. That which is hidden in the soul can be found by searching within; it is nowhere outside the soul. He who is absorbed in other things other thoughts, considers them his own, and believes him-self to be the doer is called outer-self; which means that he dwells outside his soul. When he turns away from outer things and thoughts and becomes introvert, accepts the self as self and 'the other' as other, and becomes an uninvolved knower and perceiver then he becomes the inner-self. This means he dwells within his soul. When he cleans his dwelling of the rubbish and
nd scrubs the soul clean of bhāva-karma and dravya-karma, his virtues become fully developed and manifested, turning him into supreme-soul or God.
Where God is? Saint Kabīra has given an apt answer to this question in his couplet -
Terā sāīm tujha mes basai, jyoṁ pahupana mem vāsa. Kastūrī mrga jyom phirai, phira-phira dhūndhai vāsa.
"Your Lord dwells within you in the same way as fragrance lives within a flower. You roam around outside in His search in the same way as a musk-deer roams around seeking the source of fragrance while it is all the time within its navel.“
All the religions and philosophies say this but they do not advise to accept one's own soul as God and search within. Instead, they talk of seeking an all pervading God because according to them soul is but a part of the all pervading God or Parabrahma. This way God is also an entity other than soul. The general principle is that unless one abandons “the other he cannot get the self. That God is within the soul means that the soul can become God. Only Jainism has accepted this doctrine. It is Jain religion that has given the doctrine of soul becoming supremesoul. It is an invaluable contribution of Jainism to humanity.
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