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INTRODUCTION TO JAINISM
now on, he can enter the gate and tread the path of spirituality that makes him an ever greater and wiser beneficial force for all living beings. And he (or she) will succeed. From now on he may truly be called a Jaina, because he has entered the path of the jinas, the conquerors. Perfection is reached, however, through the difficult stages that follow.
This stage of temporary true insight may refer to a rare and deep mystical experience. But, perhaps on a lesser scale, many of us may have experienced moments of extraordinary clarity. To our regret these moments never last very long, and after some time we are merely left with the memory, unable to recall them. We had suppressed our tendencies, but not yet conquered them. Still we have not been overcome by our old passions: we spend a time in a stage in which the insight is no longer clear. But then we may even start to doubt whether we have not just been floating on a selfinflated cloud. This stage of memory of “something” is called “mixed stage,”78 but due to so many down-pulling karmas, our own heritage, in a moment we may be drawn down as it were, we take up our old habits and worldly desires, and may entirely forget the experience: we continue our life as before. But only for the time being. Once the soul has been touched by this enlightened experience, one has irreversibly entered the path towards moksha, enlightenment and omniscience. No doubt, many of us have gone through some deep experience in a former life. Perhaps this is why one may experience a feeling of recognition when coming in contact with spiritual teachings or objects of spiritual beauty in the present life. A modern theosophical writer put it thus: “Any one of you who has once felt the touch of the god within never is the same again. Never can be the same again. Your life is changed; and you can have this awakening at any moment, any moment that you will take it” (G. de Purucker).
Someone who has experienced "correct-and-false insight-ness” and holds on to it has undergone a great inner change, which reflects itself in outer attitudes and behavior. He feels great inner joy, despite the tremendous difficulties
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