ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 04

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

Page 212

opportunity in some previous birth may be so awakened without any instruction at present. Thus instruction is unavoidable. It shall not be contradictory to aver that ""the secret of knowing God, of realizing Him, is, whether we like it or not, in the hands of mystics." "It is through them alone as spiritual teachers or Gurus that we shall have to bring about the spiritual conversion in us."20 Spiritual awakening not to be confused with moral and intellectual accomplishments: There may be a tendency to confuse spiritual awakening with moral and intellectual accomplishments. One may say that he who is intellectually enlightened and morally converted is spiritually awakened. How can a man after attaining to the fair height of intellectual knowledge and moral uplift be spiritually barren? Though it is astonishing, yet it is regarded as a fact by the Jainas. The "Dravya-l gi-Muni' is an instance of this sort of life. No doubt, intellectual learning and moral conversions may facilitate spiritual awakening in, certain selves, but this cannot as a rule bring about the latter. A spiritually unawakened man may be an astute intellectualist, a resolute moralist, but he will lack that spiritual quality by virtue of which he may be called a real saint, a seeker of spiritual truth, a person moving on the spiritual path. Thus spiritual awakening is to be sharply distinguished from moral and intellectual accomplishments.
2.0 Devotion
It is generally recognized that devotion in Jainism is a contradiction in terms, since devotion presupposes the existence of a Being who can actively respond to the aspirations of the devotee, and in Jainism such a conception of being is inadmissible. It is true to say that Jainism does not uphold the idea of such a being known as God, but it undoubtedly recognises the Arhat and the Siddha as the divinity-realized souls who may be the objects of devotion.
Devotion, Devotee and Devotional Object
(a) Devotion
Devotion implies the sublime affection, circumscribed by the immaculacy of thought and emotion, towards the divinity-realized souls or towards those who are advanced on the path of divine realization. 21
(b) Devotee
The devotee profoundly knows the object of his devotion, namely, Arhat and Siddha. Every fibre of his being feels the supremacy and sublimity of the object of his devotion to such an extent that when the devotee finds himself confronted with the omniscient and omnipotent God (Arhanta and Siddha), he abruptly and spontaneously proclaims himself to be shameless, 22 ignorant like an obstinate owl 23 child, etc. This is a sort of religious humility, self depreciation, self-devaluation and a consciousness of "creaturehood". 24 This strange and profound mental reaction of calling oneself a creature in the face of that which is transcendent is not a conceptual explanation of the matter but a mode of submergence into nothingness, an attempt to convey the content of the feeling response in the best possible way.
The devotee is so much attracted by the divine consciousness that he expresses his deep yearning for establishing the holy feet of God in his heart forever." Intoxicated by the devotional juice, the devotee announces that he keeps God in his heart and so allows Him (God) to cross the ocean of mundane miseries; but after a moment, he reverses the position by saying that God serves as the air inside the leather bag of his heart for crossing the ocean of world.25
The spirit of utter consecration is manifested when Samantabhadra proclaims that that is intellect which remembers God, that is head which bows down at His feet, that is successful life which lives under His pious shelter, that is speech which sings His praise, that is a sacred man who is engrossed in His devotion, and that is a learned man who bows down at His feet. 26 The devotee who finds all the objects of the world quite impotent to bestow upon him spiritual solace surrenders himself to God (Arhat and Siddha) for putting an end to transmigratory existence and to tribulations and fears.27
Page 202 of 556
STUDY NOTES version 4.0