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Metaphysics, Ethics and Spiritual Development
always exists there in the soul. But it is covered with the karmic veils. Hence, the great problem is as to how to remove these veils. Their removal requires great efforts. Only those persons who are desirous of liberation, have natural predilection for truth, possess knowledge conducive to spiritual progress and make vigorous spiritual efforts, achieve the goal of non-attachment. Soul becomes the supreme soul, i.e., God as soon as non-attachment is firmly established in it. Thinkers of almost all the systems of Indian philosophy recognise non-attachment as the supreme goal. The Naiyayika, the Vaiseṣika, the Samkhya, the Yoga, the Buddhist and the Vedantist-all declare that the supreme purpose of propounding their systems of philosophy is the attainment of the supreme spiritual goal. Though they differ on the nature of the supreme spiritual goal, that is, on the nature of the state of the non-attached supreme soul-the state which lies beyond the cycle of births and deaths and which is called final liberation (mokṣa), they all agree on the point that attainment of nonattachment is the absolutely necessary pre-condition for the attainment of the supreme spiritual good, i.e., final liberation. Again, they all maintain that the true nature of final liberation is non-attachment.
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The activity which is useful as a means to the attainment of the goal of non-attachment is that of self-restraint. Self-restraint means constant efforts to remove defects like violence, etc. and to cultivate spiritual qualities like non-violence, truthfulness, etc., to remove evil mental states of anger, deceitfulness, pride, greed, etc., and to develop pure and wholesome mental states of equanimity, contentedness, kindness, friendliness, etc. All this is called good conduct.
The spiritual aspirant employs his sense-organs, motor-organs and mind in wholesome activities. He attains higher and higher stages of spiritual evolution as he cultivates more and more self-control.
The pot potentially exists in clay. Similarly, each and every soul is the Supreme Soul or God potentially. Every soul in its original nature (that is, in potentiality) is the Supreme Soul. By the employment of instruments or means, one can transform clay into the pot. Similarly, by the practice of self-control the spiritual aspirant transforms his soul into the Supreme Soul or God. For attaining the state of Godhood or Supreme Soul, what is needed is the constant progressive efforts leading to the spiritual development. Thus progressive wholesome efforts cause progressive spiritual development. The progressive spiritual development is called gunasthānakramaroha in the Jaina philosophical works. We have already
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