Jain Journal 1968 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 53

JANUARY, 1968
139
supreme being is responsible for the world-process, and because no one who sets himself up as a creator can possibly have happiness in himself, and also because the idea of a creator is a self-contradictory notion. The removal of a man-like creator from the field, however, does not mean the removal of Godhood from the universe, since that is the Ideal of fulness and perfection for the soul to aspire to.
In respect of the soul, it will be apparent that the knowing subject cannot possibly be regarded as a product of matter. The psychological function of perception, memory, judgement and the like, as also the higher faculties of the Subjective Mind, unmistakably point to mind being no secretion of matter. The consciousness of man, and for the matter of that of all beings in the world, is, therefore, quite independent of the groupings of atoms and molecules of matter, which some of us hold to be the things which give it birth. Soul, then, is a conscious substance the nature of which is to know. Analysis further reveals the fact that it cannot be subject to death, since it is not a compound but a simple substance. The soul is, therefore, immortal by nature. True happiness only signifies perfect freedom, and we are truly happy only when freed from the weight, or burden, of all extraneous relations and worries and desires. Hence the soul is also blissful by nature. Thus, the three characteristics of the soul are (1) knowledge, (2) immortality, and (3) bliss. Now, since no God can have any greater or more fascinating attributes in Him, it follows that every good soul is a God in potency. The difference between God and man, therefore, only lies in respect of perfection, not in that of anything else.
Hence God is the great ideal of Perfection which has already been attained by a number of Perfected Souls, the Holy Ones, as Religion points out. In respect of power, also, it can be seen that the soul, as a substance, must be endowed with the same attributes as appertain to Divinity. For they both have spirit as the substance of their being. Hence, even in respect of power there is no difference between man and God, except that between a fettered and a free being.
The capacity for infinite knowledge, infinite bliss and infinite power, which is inherent in the soul, renders it necessary that some at least, if not all the souls, should perfect themselves sooner or later ; and since one earth-life does not suffice for the purpose, it logically follows that there should be as many re-incarnations as are necessary to enable one to attain perfection. In each earth-life certain experiences are undergone by the soul, and the sum-total of them is carried over in the form of character, i.e., disposition, tendencies, and the like. This