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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
52
Atman and Mokşa
A. Barth says regarding the Ātman—"..the atman is the one, simple, eternal, infinite, incomprehensible being, assuming every form, and itself without any, the only, yet immovable and immutable agent, the cause of all action and all change. It is both the material and efficient cause of the world, which is its manifestation, its body. This it draws from its own substance, and again absorbs into it, not by necessity, however, but by an act of its own will, as the spider spins forth and draws back into itself the thread of its web. From it proceed and to it return all finite existences, just as sparks leap from the furnace and fall back into it again, whilst the multiplicity of these existences no more affects its own unity than the formation of the foam and the wave affects that of the sea. More subtle than an atom, greater than the greatest of existences, it has nevertheless a dwelling, the cavity of the heart of every man. It resides in its fulness, and that it rests rejoining in itself and its works. This direct and material immanency of the absolute being in the creature, which is the unreasoned, and mystic assumption of the system, is also its connecting bond."! Richard Garbe in course of his discussion describes Ātman thus-“The word Ātman originally meant 'breathing', then 'the vital principle', 'the Self', but soon it was used to signify the Intransient One, which is without any attribute or quality, — the
1 Barth A. : The Religions of India, p. 73.
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 |