Jain Agam Sahitya

Author(s): K R Chandra
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 66

The Concept of Ātman
it does not discredit the central spiritual teachings of the major religious systems.
In the light of these findings of the modern science, we realise that the teachings of Lord Mahāvīra as preserved in the Agama texts like the VPS, should not differ from those of the Upanişadic texts or the Vedānta-sūtras which attempt to merely systematise the Upanişadic teachings. And when we look for the resemblances, we do find that both distinguish between the liberated and the transmigratory sonl, both posit the state of liberation as one beyond the pale of the wheel of transmigration, both describe the state, of heaven and hell for souls after their death, both teach that the soul is accompanied by his astral body and impressions of karma when it departs from the physical body, that although the soul is very subtle (aņu) it is capable of assuming a very big size to accomodate the physical body it is consigned to, both put forth the metaphor of a lamp the light of which reaches all the corners of the room in which it is placed, both propound the desirability of doing good to others and avoiding harm to them, both associate moral values with spiritual advancement and both prefer to teach in terms, and from the levels, easily understandable and approachable by persons with average conimon sense, rather than high intellectual calibre. It is only at the time of answering the probing questions pertaining to the nature of the soul in gereral and differentiating it from that of the Pure Self in particular by intellectually sharp and emotionally advanced sages that the difference on the higher levels is elucidated, in the Upanişads.
Lord Mahavira, on his part, seems to have maintained a highly practical attitude of focusing his attention only on the first four planes, where the soul is never seperated from its astral vehicle and he has to this end discouraged any tendency on the part of his disciples to distinguish between the Pure Self from the Soul. He has dubbed such a tendency as useless (micchá) and false, in view of the fact that it would encourage intelectual quibbling and bread laxity in moral outlook, as in the case of the Ājivikas,