tman_and_moksa

SR No.: 020053
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: G N Joshi
Publisher: Gujarat University
Publication Year: 1965
Total Pages: 901
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

Page 248

Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
216
Atman and Mokỹa
belong to those who know the immortal.” i From these verses it clearly seems that in Nirvāna there is a positive and unadulterated joy and happiness of a unique character. Even though it is free from all states of consciousness it is profoundly filled with the tranquil and calm joy of a supramundane category:
Such a perfect person who reaches Nirvāna is known as an Arhat. The word Arhat is derived from the root Arha - to deserve. Arhat is the most deserving person of Nirvāņa. Arhatship is open to all. William Monier describes the Arhat in the following words-".... the Arhat is perfect, freed from all pain (nishklesa), from all the ten fetters, from all attachment to existence (Upādāna) whether on earth or in heaven; and from all recreative Act-force. He has already entered Nirvāṇa, and while still living, he is dead to the world. He is the Jīvanmukta
emancipated man' of the Yoga. By the force of the fourth Dhyāna he has gained the Abhijñās (Abhiññā), or 'transcendent faculties of knowledge', the inner eye, inner ear, knowledge of all thoughts, and recollection of previous existences, and the extraordinary powers over matter called Iddhi (=Riddhi). In short he is Asekha, one who has nothing to learn."2 Thus, the Arhat is the perfected human being and is like the jīvanmukta of the Vedānta. He is free from the Karma force and is the supreme knower. The Buddhists imagine a
1 Ibid. 373, 734. 2 William Monier : Buddhism, p. 133.
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