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Jain Philosophy of Soul
is a logical outcome or presupposition, one can derive from the unlimited spiritual treasure a soul has. Thus, in Jainism perfection is not only a potentiality but an actuality. God is after all the highest ideal of spiritual perfectness and from this point of view we find Jainism theistic.
(3) We may very well know how we call the modern age, as an age of moral crisis. In fact poverty of moral virutes is more detrimental than poverty of wealth, In the light of this fact the Jain conception of soul and its salvation talks about the spiritual treasure. The two distinguishing qualities of the treasure of soul, as a Jain monk says, are its safety, in the sense, that it can't be stolen or broken, and its easy transferability means you can easily carry with you wherever you go. This conception of spiritual treasure of the soul leads to a presupposition of a kind of perfection - a state any soul with self-help can attain an actuality. Now God being the symbol of highest spiritual treasure, Jainism comes before us as theistic when it talks about the spiritual treasure.
(4) "For a Jain the knowledge, bliss and energy of the soul can never be totally extinguished, where as the Karmic influence is subject to complete elimination. Hence the soul possesses a sort of built-in advantage, an everpresent tendency to develop its qualities and temporarily reduce the influence of Karmas."102 This conception of Jains is highly optimistic. Passimism normally implies atheism which views the world as hostile to physical partial values and is incapable of explaining the presence of 'Good' in the world. Jainism accepts the 'good' and the 'perfect.' This kind of approach is thoroughly optimistic and theistic. Hence we can say that though some Jain scholars consider Jainism to be atheistic, it is very much theistic in the light of its thoroughly optimistic approach.
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(5) The Samyak Darśana and the detailed picture of the ladder, one must climb as he progresses from the depth of delusion till the ominiscience and freedom, is called Gunasthāns, stages of purification. The purfication, ultimately, leads the soul to a state of divinity - its natural state. "Each soul, when completely immune from Karmic influences, becomes itself Svayambhu, and is transformed into divinity."103 Divinity, thus in Jainism, comes out as the state of highest spiritual evolution. The liberated souls are full and perfect divinity in
102. Jaini Padmanabh S., The Jain Path of Purification, (1979) p. 141 103. Jain Jyoti Prasad, Religion and Culture of the Jains, (1977) p. 46.
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