________________
206
ETHICAL DOCTRINES IN JAINISM
self is the termination of mystic's journey. It is the final destination for which the self was all along struggling. In other words, the history of the Siddha state of self is the history of his mystical trials and tribulations in his march from bondage to freedom. Also, it is the history of the triumphant conclusion of his moral and spiritual exertions.
CHAPTER VII
The Jaina and the non-Jaina Indian Ethical Doctrines
SUMMARY OF THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER: In our previous discussion of the 'Mystical Significance of Jaina Ethics', we have pointed out how the human self emerging from the cave of passions rests in the abode of transcendental consciousness. The Bahirātman accepts every thing as his own, the Antarātman negates all, but the Paramātman neither accepts nor negates but transcends these dualities of acceptance and negation. In the first place, the Jaina conception of mysticism and its relation to metaphysics have been explained. Secondly, the plight of the self steeped in ignorance and the nature and process of emergence of spiritual conversion as distinguished from the ethical and the intellectual conversion have been expounded. Thirdly, we have shown the necessity of purgation and moral preparation with proper emphasis on Svādhyāya and devotion. Fourthly, the conception of illumination, and the possibility of the two types of fall, first, from spiritual conversion and, secondly, from illumination have been dealt with. And, fifthly, the characteristics of transcendental life in the form of embodied and disembodied libera. tion have been portrayed. To sum up, we have delineated all the above States of the self under the fourteen stages of spiritual evolution along with the Siddha state which transcends these stages.
In Indian soil we find the growth of different solutions for the ontological, ethical and religious problems. The Vedic, the Jaina, the Buddhist and the materialistic (Cārvāka) speculations illustrate the enormous divergence of thought current in the domain of philosophy The term "Vedic' needs elucidation. It includes two-fold philosophic literature. First, it comprehends within its sweep the Vedas, the Brāhmaņas, the Upanişads, the Bhagavad-Gītā, the Brahmasūtra along with
Jain Education International
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org