Aspects of Jaina Religion

Author(s): Vilas Sangve
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

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30 :: Aspects of Jaina Religion
sentience. Hence the really sentient object is the soul.
A recognition of these two entities—soul and non-soulat once marks out the Jaina philosophy as dualistic and quite distinguishable from the monistic Vedānta philosophy which accepts only one reality without a second.
In view of this distinguishing feature of Jainism it is necessary to have a proper conception of these seven tattvas of Jaina philosophy.
3. Tattvas of Jainism
The seven tattvas, i.e., principles of Jainism mentioned above are explained in Jaina religion as follows: (1) Jiva
The Jiva means ātman, i.e., soul or spirit. The Jīva is essentially an undivided base of consciousness and there is an infinity of them. The whole world is literally filled with them. The souls are substances and as such they are eternal. Their characteristic mark is consciousness, which can never be destroyed. Basically the soul is all perfect and all powerful. But by ignorance soul identifies itself with matter and hence all its troubles and degradations start. (A) Kinds of souls
The souls are of two kinds, viz, (i) samsārin, i.e., mundane, or
baddha, i.e., those in bondage, and (ii) siddha, i.e., liberated, or
mukta, i.e., those that are free. Mundane souls are the embodied souls of living beings in the world and are still subject to the cycle of births. On the other hand, siddha jīvas are the liberated souls and they will be embodied no more. (B) Liberated souls
The liberated souls without any embodiment dwell in the state of perfection at the top of the universe. So to say, they