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A Treatise on Jainism
133
ful to avoid all passionate thought-activities. Every action of his will be performed with due care and caution and the commission of Himsa would be avoided altogether. The acquisition of internal purification follows the practice of self control or conquest over the cravings of the body, and the ravings of the mind, a supreme subjection of sense desires, mastering of passions and governance of emotions. The joys of Yoga, of communion with the Highest, are only known to those who have experienced them. They are above all earthly pleasures, they lead to heavenly happiness, and ultimately to the realisation, the attainment to Godhood, Siddhasthan, Parmatma Pada, the true happiness where the Soul is identified with limitless, perfect, direct, completed knowledge, of all that is, that was, that shall be, simultaneous, in all their varying forms and conditions, is supremely self-satisfied, is Omniscient, and Omnipotant, for ever and ever, in the unending eternity of Time and Space.
To achieve this condition requires supreme effort. It is difficult for a layman at once to do so. He has therefore to proceed
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