ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 04

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 210

Individual Characteristics
The spiritually awakened regards, without any doubt, kindness to all creatures as Dharma and any injury to them as Adharma. Now the question is: How to acquire the state of doubtlessness? The answer can be given by saying that either the individual should stop thinking and resort to a sort of blind faith or he should employ himself in the task of vigorous thinking. Blind faith is the path of mental slavery, but vigorous thinking is the path of awakened mind. To my mind Jainism has subscribed to the latter view. Reason should be freely allowed to play upon kindness and cruelty to creatures, so as to arrive at rational decision, Mah vra never threatened the critical faculty in man, inasmuch as he seems to be aware of the fact that by paralyzing the critical faculty in man, he will be cut at its roots. For the spiritually awakened, kindness to creatures emerges from the very process of rational thinking. Thus the individual will be free from any doubt in observing kindness to creatures. This is known as the Ni a kita characteristic of the spiritually awakened. Along with this characteristic it may be said that the spiritually awakened self is without any iota of fear and pride. 10 He is not frightened when worldly pleasures part company and troubles accompany him. Nor is he perturbed by the life hereafter. He has no fear of death, disease, accidents, and insecurity and of losing prosperity. Again he has comprehended the futility of pride and consequently he has forsaken pride of learning, honour, family, caste, power, opulence, penance and body.
The spiritually awakened is required to impose upon him restraint in the realm of desires. Man is a bundle of desires. Desires do not arise in vacuum. They presuppose goods. Desires may admit of two kinds, namely, possessive and creative, corresponding to the two kinds of goods, namely, material and creative. The difference between the two kinds of goods is that the former admits of exclusive individual possession, while the latter can be shared by all alike. Thus the possessive impulses aim at acquiring private goods, whereas the creative ones aim at producing goods that can be enjoyed by all without any conflict. "Material possessions can be taken by force', but "creative possessions cannot be taken in this way'. The desire for material goods makes man's personality egocentric, which is the cause of social tensions and frustration. Creative desires lead the individual towards self-satisfaction and social progress. Thus the spiritually awakened is free from possessive desires and develop Nik kşita" characteristic in his personality and makes himself free from the desire for material possessions.
The spiritually awakened individual begins to comprehend that many religious superstitions, social paths of life and other forms of follies and falsities are derogatory to individual progress; therefore they are condemned in every age of history. But the change is met with great resistance. The reason for this is that individuals look at change with doubt and uncertainty. Besides love for conventionality and vested interests run counter to the acceptance of novelties in thought. All these obstacles mar individual dynamism. Thus the spiritually awakened individual becomes free from follies (M dhat s) and develops Amūdhadrstil characteristic in his personality. It is only through such individuals that society progresses and a scientific outlook gains ground. Such individuals are forward looking, and are free from the pressures of narrow traditionalism. They are always open-minded and are ever eager to learn from history and experience.
iv.
The spiritually awakened individual develops virtuous dispositions of honesty, gratitude, forgiveness, modesty etc. This is known as Upag hana characteristic. 13 It may be noted here that though mere thought is important to bring about any individual transformation, it is only virtues in addition to thought that can effect transformation in the life of an individual and transmute existing state of affairs. It cannot be gainsaid that noble thoughts can be translated into action through the medium of virtuous dispositions.
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STUDY NOTES version 4.0