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THE ENLIGHTENED VISION OF THE SELF
causality (condition of being a factor, karakatta) between the Self and anything else; for such beings as are intent on the search for means to the realization of the innate nature of their own pure selves are independent.109
The Self is exhorted to contemplate with unswerving conviction upon the eternal divine nature of the Self (i.e. pure consciousness) and achieve the everlasting blissful self-realization. (Verse 25) The writer of An Insight into Jainism observes:
According to Jaina principles, from one point of view, God is one, but from another, he is not only many, but infinite. With reference to his Sabhara or Starupa (omniscient and Perfect status), He is one, but as regards the Atmans to which that perfect status has been manifested, He is infinite. In reality, Jainism does not worship any particular individuality, but that Perfect, Pure and Good status in which Atman exists as All-knowing, All-seeing, All-powerful, All-happy and Vitraga (non-attached). In Jainism prominence is given not to individuality, but to the status in which Atman becomes Paramatman, and that status, whatever may be the number of souis individually, is identically the one and the same.'
110
Call it "perfect, pure and Good status", "god-consciousness", Godhood, godliness, God, truth, pure consciousness or one's own essential and innate nature (surupa) - they are one and same thing. Jainism proclaims that every living being is essentially pure and divine and has the capacity of fully developing its own nature and becoming Paramatman. When perfected and fully developed, this potentiality is realized, as the true God, Godhood or Supreme Soul with the fourfold attributes of Infinite Power, Infinite Knowledge, Infinite Vision or Intuition, and Infinite Bliss. These features are called "anant chatushtaya" by the Jains, and are considered as the fundamental characteristics of God in all religions, as Harisatya Bhattacharya remarks.111
This godliness is a quality like the fragrance surrounding a flower, but not something objective you can hold, or cling to. God is not known as a person or as an object; it is the infinite joy, bliss, etc., the
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