Jaina Philosophers On Nature Of Liberation

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Like the gourd that upon the removal of heavy layers of dirt ascends to the surface of the water and cannot move further up, the liberated jiva stops at the border of the cosmos. The very structure of reality prevents its innate disposition to move upwards from being manifested any further.
Conclusion
This article examined the Jaina textual discussions about the spatial transition of a liberated jiva, a special episode in the life of jivas that takes place between the destruction of all karman that binds them to samsāra on the one hand and their dwelling in the space of liberated beings on the other. As the place of karmically bound jivas that are capable of attaining liberation is located far below the space of liberated beings, the disembodied liberated jīvas must travel upwards to reach it. Umāsvāti's Tattvārtha-sūtra and four of the commentaries written on it that were explored contain a surprising abundance of detail about this transition. First of all, they point out that the travel occurs incredibly fast, that it, in fact, happens in the course of a mere moment. During this moment, three events take place concurrently: the jiva's separation from the body, the jiva's attainment of remarkable speed characteristic of one that is achieving perfection, and the jiva's reaching of the top of the cosmic space.
The texts, further, deliberate on why the liberated jīva even moves and propose four reasons for it. The first reason that they list is the preceding impetus, which is demonstrated with the example of the potter's wheel. Just as the wheel keeps turning even after the cessation of the contact between the potter's hand and the stick, in the same way the jīva is propelled by previous activity. The Digambara and Śvetāmbara commentaries offer different interpretations on the source of this propulsion, with Digambaras maintaining that it is the jīva's efforts at attaining liberation and Śvetāmbaras that it is the actions of the one nearing liberation. The second reason for the jīva's upward motion that the texts propose is the freedom from karmic ties, which Digambara commentaries illustrate with the example of the gourd in the water. Once the heavy coating of dirt that keeps the gourd submerged in the water is removed, the goard floats up. In the same way, the jīva soars up once it attains
freedom from karmic ties. Instead of offering an example for this second reason, Śvetāmbara skommentaries introduce and explain the notion of natural or innate motion. They point out
that motion is not something that jīvas procure from their karmic bodies, but that it is rather their essential disposition or their innate nature to move, with matter being the only other