Concept of Divinity in Jainism

Author(s): P Ajay Kothari
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 53

lute. God, or Brahman, is the Absolute Reality and is the Pure Transcendental.141 God is the supreme person who is called Narayana, Vishnu, Hari, and by many other names. Brahman, the Supreme Divinity is existence - consciousness - bliss (Sat - Chit - Ananda) incarnate and as such lives in His heavenly abode with His consort, Lakshmi, who is the personification of His power. He manifests Himself in various forms and through all the incarnations (avatara) in the world. He is the Lord of all beings and the creator, preserver and destroyer of all things. 142 God creates the world, not out of himself, but out of the primal matter called prakriti which is an eternal and unconscious substance. God is not the material cause of the world, He is only its efficient cause. It is under His control and guidance that prakriti, the material cause, evolves the world of physical objects.
Selves are neither created by God nor do they form the body of God, but they are absolutely dependent on Him. When the individual self is liberated, it does not become identical with the essence of God. The liberated self closely approximates and resembles God in the qualities of knowledge and bliss; it becomes similar, but not identical.143 The knowledge and bliss attained by individual selves are in each case appropriate to their intrinsic merits, so that the distinction between one self and another is maintained even in the state of liberation (Brahma Sutra IV.4.17-18). It is the divine grace which is ultimately responsible for one's eternal bliss or liberation.143
Thus, there are three classes of selves, of which the first includes those that are always free, the second includes that were once in bondage but are now liberated and the third includes those that are still in bondage. The liberated soul is not independent of God, Supreme Divinity. 144 Divinity and guru
An important aspect of Hinduism, whether it is Vedanta or any other system of philosophy, discipline or teaching, is the criti
THE CONCEPT OF DIVINITY IN JAINISM