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Jaina Perspective in Philosophy and Religion
never-ending beatitude. A person attains the state of Omnis. cience when Mohaniya ( Deluding ), Jñanavarantya ( Knowledge-obscuring ), Darśanavaraṇīya (Faith-obscuring) and Antaraya (Obstructive ) karmas are destroyed.1 After the attainment of Kevala-Jñana a person is free from all kinds of Karmas and attains final liberation. The Soul comes into its own and regains infinite knowledge, infinite bliss and infinite power,
(g) The Abode of Moksa : When the Jīva attains freedom, it rises higher and higher and reaches the summit of Lokakāśa which is called Siddha-Sila (Region of the Free and Liberated ). It may be pointed out that this is a new conception. The Vedic conception regards Ātman as all-pervasive. The Buddhists do not accept any such things as Ātman; hence they do not posit a Locus of Mokșa ( Mokşa-sthana ). The Mandali sect of the Jainas think that there is no such fixed place of Mokşa. The soul is ever-progressing. But the Jaina concept of Dharma and Adharma (Medium of motion and rest ), present in cach object, leads us to think that there must be a fixed state where the motion must stop.
(h) Conclusion : Moksa in Jainism is not something new. It is a rediscovery of man himself through self-realisation. True happiness lies within. 'Look within' is what Jainism says. “Self-realisation is the ideal of systems such as Nyaya-Vaiseşikas and the Sámkhya too."3 Advaita-Vedanta also is a philosophy of self-relisation par-excellence. The Karma-phenomenology of the Jainas is the outcome of the realistic and the externalistic approach. Constitutional freedom of the soul is a logical necessity. This is simple Satkaryavada.
1. Tattvärtha-Sūtra, X. 1. 2. Ibid, X. 2, X. 3. 3. Dr. T. M. P. Mahadevan's Presidential Address to the
Nagpur Session of Indian Philosophical Congress ( Proceedings ), p. 7.
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