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JAIN JOURNAL
This is the only One Idea which counts. All Truth, Goodness, Beauty, Reality, Morality, Freedom is in this. The Self and It alone is true, good, lovely, real, moral. The non-Self is error, myth, mithyātva, ugly, deluding, detractor from and obscurer of reality, immoral worthy of shunning and renunciation, as bondage and as anti-Liberation. This Almighty, all-Comprehensive, claim of Self-Absorption must be perfectly and. completely grasped for any measure of success in understanding Sri Kunda Kunda Acarya's works, indeed for the true understanding of Jainism. Few are the works, if any, extant of Jainism as digested of old by the Apostles and Omniscients after Lord Mahavira ; and with the doubtful exception of Svami Kartikeya's Anuprekşā none is older than Sri Kunda Kunda's. The tradition is much older. It is unbroken, continuous. Indeed it is claimed to be Eternal. But in its written form, no work is older than the Soul-analysing, Soul-clarifying, Soul-illuminating stanzas of Sri Kunda Kunda. They sparkle with one life and shed one white lustre, namely, the Divine, Limitless Nature of Soul when absorbed in Itself. Sva-Samaya or Self-Absorption is the key-note, the purpose, the lesson, the object, the goal and the centre of Sri Kunda Kunda's all works and teachings. The Pure, All-Conscious, Self-absorbed Soul is God and never less or more. Any connection, Causal or E with the non-Self is a delusion, limitation, imperfection, bondage. To obtain Liberation or Deification this connection must be destroyed. Thus and then the bound soul, baddha, becomes the Liberated Soul, Khuda. Self come to Self, Zat-e-paka, Pure Entity. The man becomes Man. The Son of man returns to His Father in Heaven. Man becomes Himself. Man becomes God.
To guard against any misunderstanding of Jainism, this central teaching, this clear golden goal must ever be kept in mind and in view.
It may well and legitimately be asked : what is the practical use of this Jaina idea of Self-Absorption ?
The answer is : The mere insight into and knowledge of this Real Reality, is of everyday use in the conduct of our individual and collective lives. It is a true and the only panacea for all our ills. Its rigour may be hard. Its preliminary demand may occasion a wrench from our cherished habits, customs, and fashions of thought and action. But its resultwhich is immediate, instantaneous and unmistakable, -justifies the hardship and the demand. The relief and service, the sure uplift of ourselves, the showering of calm balm, by the practice of self-realisation, upon the sore souls of our brethren and sisters justify the price paid. Indeed it is merely the temporary yielding of a hollow, fleeting pleasure
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