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COMPENDIUM OF JAINISM
favours because a Tirthankara can grant none. There is nothing like divine grace unless one cultivates divinity by elevating one's own soul.
Umāsvāmi has expressed the object of worship in precise terms in the opening verse of his renowned scripture known as the Cattvārtha-Sūtra which is an aphoristic exposition of the principles of reality.
“Mokşamārgasya netāram bhettāram karmabhūbștām Jnātāram visvatattvānām vande tadguṇalabdhaye.”
I bow to the Lord who is the leader of the path of liberation, the destroyer of the mountains of karmas and the knower of the whole of reality, so that I may realise those qualities."'
• The object of this worship therefore is not to seek favours but to cultivate a frame of mind which will' develop in oneself all that is best in the master. The devotee is in the position of a disciple who approaches his Master in his lonely but seeking for new light and guidance to attain liberation. Pūjyapāda has given an example in bis exposition of the above verse: “Some wise person who is desirous of obtaining what is good for him and who is capable of attaining liberation in a short time, approaches a lonely and delightful hermitage capable of affording peace of mind to the potential souls. There he sees the preceptor, seated in the midst of the congregation of monks as the embodiment of the path to liberation as it were indicating the path by his very form even without uttering words. He comes before the great passionless saint, skilled in reasoning and in the scriptures, who is worthy of veneration by noble persons and whose chief task is to preach what is good to all living beings. The disciple asks him with reverence “0, Master, what is good for the soul? The saint says: 'Liberation'. He again asks the saint, "What is the nature of liberation, and what is the way to attain it?' The saint answers 'Liberation is the attainment of an altogether different state of soul, on the removal of all the impurities of Karmic matter and the body, characterised by the
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