Saman suttam Part 1

SR No.: 008022
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kamalchand Sogani
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy
Publication Year: 1993
Total Pages: 119
Language: Prakrit, English
Classification: Book_Devnagari, Religion, & Principle
File Size: 6 MB

Page 12

(2) THE GOAL OF HUMAN PURSUANCE :
The goal is described as the attainment of paramātman after one's passing through the state of antarātman and renouncing the state of balurātman The person who recognises that bodily senses are ultimate is called the perverted self, and the person in whom the acceptance of self as different from the body is without any doubt is called the awakened self, ind the self devoid of all the Karmic taints is called the supreme self And the supreme self is called the Deva, divine being (179) The paramātman is parama ātnian, the highest, infinite self. The bahırātman has awareness only of the physical body and its various accompaniments, the antarātman has developed spiritual awareness, but the paramātman attains to the highest realization of spiritual experience that passes understanding of paramātman the empirical self is metamorphosed into transcedental self In other words, the empirical self becomes universal self in the sense that it is now capable of intuiting all the objects of the world owing emergence of omniscience In view of the fact of possessing omniscicence, it will not be contradictory to say that the ominscient being is all-pervading, and that all the objects are within him, since he is the embodiment of knowledge and all the objects are the objects of knowledge The omniscient being neither accepts nor abandons, nor transforms the external objectivity, but only witnesses and apprehends the world of objects without entering into them, just as the eye sees the object of sight. The paramātman not only manifests infinite intuitive knowledge, but also experiences unalloyed bliss which is self-originated, supersensuous, unique, infinite and interminable The correlate of infinite knowledge and bliss is infinite energy without which the former two can not be sustained Thus we may say that the cognitive, conative and affective tendencies of the self find supreme satisfaction in the state of paramàtinan It is of capital importance to point out that Jainism gives credence to the infinite plurality of paramātmans just as there is ontological pluralism of empericial selves Every empirical self can become universal and there are as many universal selves as there are empirical selves without any contradiction In Jaina terminology, every jiva is potentially a Siddha and in Sıddhahood self-individuation is sustained
Secondly, there is a different expression of the goal of human pursuance According to this, the goal of human pursuance is the attainment of supreme peace or equanimity through spiritual awakening (Samyagdarsana), value-knowledge (Samyagjñāna) and ethico-spiritual conduct (Samyak-cāritra) The Samanasuttam tells us that the person comprehends facts and values through knowledge, he believes in them by reason of spiritual awakening; he restrains the senses by virtue of ethico-spiritual conduct; and by austerity he is purified (209) Again, for the person who