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The Concept of Pure Soul - An Overview
- Dr. Jayanti Lal Jain
The present era is termed as the age of science and technology. Science has done a great service to the mankind by providing amenities of pleasant living and saved from many miseries and uncertainties known in the past. In the process, we know much about the atom but not about the self, which is absolutely needed for a meaningful and peaceful life. Our life is full of excitements, emotional disorders and value conflicts. The truths revealed by Lord MAHAVEER go much beyond what the sciences have to offer to mankind. However, the concept of soul, although secular, eternal and pure by its very nature, has been made more complicated by the existence of different systems of faiths, religions, languages, philosophies, cultures, vested social and political interest of different leaders and their followers, economic interests, etc.
All the Jain concepts flow from the concept of pure soul only. Non-violence, non-attachment, non-absolutism, right knowledge, right attitude, right conduct, equanimity, non-possession, peacefulness, happiness, etc., are, indeed, the attributes of pure soul and hence advocated under Jainism. The concept of pure soul is the core concept and deserves studies, again and again. If the mankind understands this concept of pure soul, peace and harmony can certainly be established in the world and one can ultimately get lasting liberation. An overview of the concept of pure soul is presented as follows:
1. The Environment of Soul - If we scan the environment of soul, there are six matters in the universe — Soul, atoms (particles), space, medium of motion, medium of rest and time. Among the six matters, soul is the living matter and the rest are non-living. Only a group of atoms are visible and other matters are invisible and are to be recognized or realized. Soul and atoms are the only two active matters, i.e., these move from one place to another through the complicated process of operation of Karma particles. The living matter can be either under bondage
influence of atoms), affected by the cycle of births and deaths or liberalized (Moksha - without bondage).
2. Mundane Existence - Soul's mundane existence is characterized by one's complete ignorance of oneself (soul) and allowing Karmas to operate in entirety. Through Karma, everything that happens to one's soul in contemporary existence is explained. The degree of fulfillment of our desires is limited by complicated operations of Karmas of previous births. These desires cause perpetual existence of impurities and the stages of impurities depending on
