Jain Journal 1972 04

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

Page 11

APRIL, 1972
147
Happiness is a matter of the internal psychology of the soul, and is not to be found elsewhere. No amount of pious hopes or prayers will bring us true happiness, nor release us from the bondage of embodied life with all its liability to pain and suffering. What is to be done is to stop the influx of deadly matter into the soul, by curbing our desires and passions, and then to root out all the karmic forces which are at present in combination with it.
The means of accomplishing all this is known as the path of salvation, and consists of right faith, right knowledge and right action: these three together, not separately, are the only means by which the soul can overcome the powerful forces of karma.
The path leading to eternal life is not easy to follow, for it means renunciation, and this is distasteful to most people ; but there is no other way. Our fate is entirely in our own hands. We can have divinity or embodied life ; omniscience or darkness; the rapturous joy of the gods or continual unhappiness.
At present we are slaves, servile and obedient to the tyranny of desire. If we can learn to subdue our passions and instincts, we shall one day throw off the yoke of slavery and become masters, in every sense of the term. Our desires assume two forms: attachment and aversion, or liking and disliking.
The struggle of self-mastery is easier for some persons than others. Some are born with a strong will. The reason for this is to be found in their previous life. They have already rid themselves of matter to a much greater degree than others, by the practice of self-discipline in a previous existence.
When the conquering soul finally overcomes its desiring nature and acquires omniscience, death itself is conquered. Omniscience having been attained, the final material body is sometime afterwards cast off ; and when this happens, the soul, being free from all matter, does not undergo rebirth any more. Such a soul possesses in itself perfect life, infinite joy, unlimited power and all-embracing knowledge. This is the status of Godhood and the real meaning of salvation.
All the powers and forces in the universe cannot mar or break the continuity of omniscience, not even for the fraction of a second. Every moment of existence is a living pulsation of pure energy, indescribable bliss, and boundless perception, continuing throughout all eternity.