Introduction to Jainism

SR No.: 006919
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Rudi Jansma, Sneh Rani Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy
Publication Year: 2006
Total Pages: 256
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 5 MB

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next is the mythical north pole, geographically identical with the north pole of the earth, but mystically quite different; and the highest floor is the sun.” Not the sun we see with our eyes, but the spiritual heart of the solar system with which the earth is spiritually and magnetically connected. Perhaps this is what the original Jain Kevalins (Knowers) who had reached the highest stages of the “Path” meant when they spoke about the three "terraces” of Mount Meru where divine beings reside. “On these floors live three separate classes of entities, with all of which the human race is in strait spiritual and intellectual union.” When our inner substances separate themselves from our physical bodies and we travel through one or more of these regions, we first become great souls (mahātmas], "from mahātmahood we pass into quasi-divinity, and from quasi-divinity we become gods.” The Jains speak of ascetics who, after leaving their physical bodies, abide in the highest three levels of the universe: those who need to be reborn twice, those who need to be reborn only once, and those (the liberated ones or siddhas) who are no longer reborn at all. Once a man belongs to these higher classes of being he can choose to return to earth to fulfill a lofty, but often very inconspicuous task, say the Theosophists. * Blavatsky, H.P.: The Secret Doctrine; The Synthesis of Science, Religion and philosophy, 2 Vols. Theosophical University Press, Pasadena CA, (1888) 2000 / (Zirkoff, Boris de (ed)): The Secret Doctrine, The Theosophical Publishing House, Wheaton IL, 1993. ** Purucker, G. De: Fountain-Source of Occultism; A Modern Presentation of the Ancient Universal Wisdom based on The Secret Doctrine by H.P. Blavatsky, Theosophical University Press, Pasadena CA, 1974. 69 In this connection interesting hints can also be found in Theosophical literature. Blavatsky described in her Secre Doctrine that this refers to the protectors of mankind, who hav control over a hierarchical "host of heavenly beings" who are th