Confluence of Opposites

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Champat Rai Jain

Page 26

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GENERAL SURVEY
sure, though they are not altogether free from misery and pain ; those in bells bave for their lot intolerable suffering ; man experiences both pleasure and pain, with the latter generally preponderating; and the tiryancha gati is also full of misery and pain, Birth and death characterise every one of these four types of existence, and only those who pass out of the sphere of transmigration enjoy eternal life. But there is no fear of the merit acquired in one life being lost in a succeeding 'rebirth'. The effect of punya (virtue) and pápa (evil) is carried by the soul from lise to life and determines the type of reincarnation (gati).
Release from transmigration is obtained by the observance of the vows of ahimsa (non injury), truthfulness, non-stealing, continence and indifference to wordly goods, and by the practising of certain ethical rules,-humili'y, forgiveness and the like,-as well as by mental and physical asceticism, e.g., study, meditation, contemplation and fasting. Put in a nutshell, the path to Nirvana consists in the confluence of Right Faith (belief in tattvas), Right Knowledge (knowledge of tattvas) and Right Conduct (observance of the prescribed rules). This triple Right Path is designed to enable the soul to attain to Godhood which is its own nature potentially. An infinity of Souls have already attained to divine status by following this Right Path, which, it is insisted upon, is the only method of obtaining nirvana (the status and glory of Godhood). This method is twofold: (1) less rigid for householders and (2) strictly austere, to