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COMPENDIUM OF JAINISM
ideal, a pure perfect soul whose attributes are infinite perception, knowledge, power and bliss; it is the condition of perfection and omniscience. Imperfection attached to the soul as we set in the universe is due to its association with Karmic matter. Our joys and our sorrows, our friends and foes, our kith and kin and in short, all that mundane life stands for are of our own making, the fruits of Karmas that we accumulated in the past arising out of our own passions and activities of body, mind and speech,
How do we attain the state of purity and perfection ? In describing the path to salvation or the mokṣa mārga, each school of philosophy has emphasised that aspect which its propounders considered important. While some have emphasised the path of faith or devotion, others have emphasised the path of knowledge as supreme. There is a third school which has laid the greatest stress on action or conduct. Jainism has considered the problem from two points of view viz. Vyavahāra-naya (practical standpoint) and Niscaya-naya the point of Reality). For most of us it is difficult to understand the point or the language of reality unless it is first explained from the practical point to which we are normally used, having regard to popular expressions and similarity of experiences or objects. The practical point of view is normally related to popular view and understanding. The exposition of the true reality may sometimes transcend our experience and understanding as well.
Umāsvāmi has, in his inimitable aphoristic sūtra, stated :
Samyag darśana jñāna cāritrāņi mokşamārgah.1 “Right faith, right knowledge and right conduct together constitute the path to salvation.” The word samyak used therein qualifies not only faith but also knowledge and conduct. These three principles are called the Ratna-traya or the Three Jewels by the Jaina thinkers. The works of the great saint Kundakunda, particularly the Niyamasāra deals with it in full detail. The “Three Jewels" form the subject-matter of the Puruşārtha-siddhyupāya by Amritacandra Ācārya. In fact, every Jaina scripture deals with this subject as it sums up the philosophy of liberation or omniscience. It also
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