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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
18
Ātman and Moksa
They had a hearty and healthy love of earthly life and an outspoken relish for all that makes up for the ordinary pleasures of life. Wealth and numerous offsprings were the constant burden of their prayers to their gods; success in predatory warfare, or in strife for consideration for power, was frequently besought. Length of days in the land, or death by no other cause than old age, was not less frequently supplicated; they clung to the existence of which they fully appreciated all the delights.''
What the Vedic thinkers aimed at was not only a freedom from pain and misery in earthly life and the life after death, but they sought positive happiness, wealth and health, progeny and power, victory over the enemies. They were fond of assertive and manly life. They took a positive joy and pride in enjoying a perfectly happy life here on the earth and a similar one there in the heaven. It is evident from their prayers for a life for one hundred autumns and for hundred cows and horses. They were afraid of going to the dark regions, the hell after death. They positively aimed at reaching the heaven to live a fuller and more persect life. Their Moksa has a positive connotation. It lies in perfecting life rather than in withdrawing from it, or in attaining desirelessness and void. They cherished a robust and optimistic outlook on life. The ideal moksa is an elaboration of a rich and happy earthly life. It is an improvement over their life on earth. The life which they aimed at in heaven is not different
1 Whitney: Oriental and Linguistic Studies, pp. 49 ff.
For Private And Personal
| SR No. | 020053 |
| Book Title | tman_and_moksa |
| 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 |