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viewpoint. Further the real, termed dravya or substance in Jainism is endowed with attributes and modes
Cosmos is defined as Loka or the place where all types of substances exist. According to Jainism, this cosmos is eternal and is not created by anyone. However its constituents/contents keep on changing continuously.
The following four primary principles give Jainism a religious / spiritual fervour.
Every mundane soul is bound by subtle particles of matter known as Karma from the very beginning. It considers that just as gold is found in an alloyed form in the mines, in the same way mundane souls are found along with the Karma-bondage from time eternal. The impurity of the mundane soul is thus treated as an existing condition. Thus man is not perfect and the imperfectness in man is attributed to the existence of Karma associated with his soul. The human soul is in a position to attain perfection. In the state of perfection, it is endowed with four primary characteristics, viz., infinite perception or faith, infinite knowledge, infinite energy and infinite bliss.
Even though man is not perfect, yet by his spiritual nature man can and must control his material nature. It is only after the entire subjugation of matter that the soul attains perfection, freedom and bliss. Such a state of perfection can be achieved through the control of senses and thoughts.
It is only the individual human being that can scientifically separate its own soul from the matter associated with it. The separation cannot be effected by any other person. This means that man himself, and he alone is responsible for all that is good or bad in his life. He cannot absolve himself from the responsibility of experiencing the fruits of his actions.
The soul can exist in three states, namely; External orientation when the living being thinks of itself as the body and denies existence of soul, Internal oriented soul when the living being accepts the nature and existence of soul as his eternal existence
Gandhi & Jainism Pg. 229
