________________
AN EPITOME OF JAINISM.
(5) Anyatva bhâvand-The Self, the I is
not this body which I hold to be mine. It is but a different and distinct entity unadulterated by anything else in reality. The ordinary mode of speech finding expression in such statements 'as I am lean', or 'my limb is broken' or 'my child is suffering' has for its basis wrong knowledge as to the real nature of our inward self which by subreption appears to be identical with our physical constitution : but the wise and the omniscient have definitely determined it to be otherwise.
The Self, the I is absolutely different from the not-self in every respect. So what care I if the body which is neither me nor mine go away. What do I care if the child ceases to be here and now. Such reflections within one's own self along this particular vein and strain is called Anyatva bhavana.
570