Bhagvana Mahavira

Author(s): Tulsi Acharya
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 57

Kaivalya (Omniscience) and the Bhagavan's Sermons
When Acalabhrātā came to see him, Bhagavān Mahāvīra explained to him the nature of righteousness and sinful deeds. He said, "Righteous ani sinful deeds are not fictitious. They are not governed by systems created by man. They are the products of man's natural instincts. They seize his soul."
Bhagavan Mahāvīra, explaining the nature of the next world to enlighten Metarya, said, "Metarya, a thing which has no beginning and no end cannot have a middle. If you did not exist in the previous life and if you will not exist in the next life, you cannot exist in the present life also. That which exists now must have existed in the past and must exist in the future also. Existence can be conceived only in the light of the present, past and future. It is eternal. Whatever number of fundamental elements existed in the world in the past, exist today and will continue to exist in the future also. Not a single particle can ever be increased or decreased. How, then, can you also go out of existence? The process or continuity of existence automatically leads to the next world."
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Addressing himself to Prabhasa, Bhagavan Mahāvīra explained the nature of nirvana or the State of Liberation. He said, "Prabhāsa, liberation of the soul does not mean the end of existence. When the light of the candle goes off, the flame does not cease to exist. It only changes its state. Liberation means a change in the state of the soul. The soul which had been changing its states and undergoing recurrent transmigration under the impact of the body and karma enters into a changeless state in liberation free from the body and karma. It becomes itself. Liberation means the attainment of its own nature and freedom from the not-self by the soul. It transmigrates no more."
After having converted the eleven scholars of Brahmanical school, Bhagavan Mahāvīra propounded the nature of Reality including the substances like the soul etc. on the