ISJS Transactions 2018 07 To 09 Vol 02 No 03

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

Page 48

organism to fall into the bondage of lust, worldly pleasure, ego, hatred, jealousy, anger, etc. Thus self-realisation paves the way to simply reverse this process and help the seeker to decipher the absolute truth on its own. Jainism firmly rejects the belief of a creator, and one being is solely responsible for his thoughts, actions and their consequences."
Now, the questions which come to mind are, how do we achieve self-realisation; what is the process or method to attain self-realisation; and why is it needed in present times.
In order to progress on the path of self-realisation one first needs to be very clear in terms of what is "Self" and what is "not Self." The word jiva is used for self or soul in Jainism. Jainism recognizes jīva as an eternal entity. The defining characteristic of self is sentiency, and hence it is different from material objects. Self is regarded as beginning less and as having unending, continuous existence. It is an entity which lived in the past and which continues to live in the present, and which will certainly live in the future, too. Though it cannot be perceived, yet it has some manifest features in this mundane existence. The manifest and essential features are its life essentials (such as senses, the channels of activities, life duration and respiration) which are the signs of its presence in an embodied condition."
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To understand the concept of Self, it is necessary to know first what is not Self, because the ontological analysis of reality, according to Jain philosophy, takes both self (jiva) and not self (ajiva) into consideration, which fills the entire psychical and physical phenomena of the universe. Ajīva (non Self) has been explained by Jain scholars as a non-psychical entity, as well as non-sentient. it does not mean that it stands only for matter or physical body having some form, because its classification includes those substances also which have no forms; e.g. pudgala, dharma, adharma, ākāśa and kāla.
40 ISJS-Transactions, Vol.2, No.3, Jul-Sep, 2018
Non-self
Self
The journey from non self to self is known as self-realization. This paper will look into the process from bahirātmā to antarātmā via method of aparigraha and meditation.
1. 11.
Aparigraha.
The term "aparigraha" non-possession, non-grasping has its root in the term "parigraha" which means to amass, to grasp, to accumulate, to compile, to seize, to hold, to fence in and to receive or accept possessions or property. It is also defined as that which entangles one
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