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अनुसंधान - १७• 106
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad and ‘Tattvam asi' in the Chandogya Upanisad. In other words, the unification of Atman with Brahman is the well known established method of freedom from samsara in the Brahmanical tradition. The Jaina authors resorted to the same method, and established 'kevali samudghāta', the Jaina method of annihilating a kevali's entire karmas and attaining liberation, by allowing him to be unified or to become one with Cosmic Man, the Jaina loka.
In order to deny one's total self and become free from it, there is no other way for him, but to transcend the level of his own self and becomes one with the Absolute One, Brahman or God, or with whatever name you may wish to call Him. Likewise, if a kevali wants to be absolutely free from his entire karmas that have been inseparably bound with his transmigrating self since the beginningless time, there is just no other way for him, but to transcend the level of such self and becomes one with the Absolute One, who stands outside the phenomena of samṣāra. The Jaina theoreticians had to thus build their loka in a profile of Cosmic Man.
Buddha who was a historical person in Hinayana Buddhism, came to be also considered as pervading throughout the universe in Mahāyāna Buddhism. This idea was soon followed by the carollary that Buddha is no other than the cosmic world itself. This cosmic world is called Buddha's 'dharma kāya', that is often expressed by Cosmic Vairocana. This idea, of course, goes back to that of Purusa in the 'Purusa-sūkta hymn' in the Rg-veda X. 90. Purusa or Original Man is here depicted as God of sacrifice as well as the object of sacrifice, by whose immolation the present world including all things, human beings, devas and all others including social systems are derived. The Jainas thus followed in the wake of Mahāyānists.
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