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Metaphysics, Ethics and Spiritual Development
251
One who has not even heard the words 'samvara', 'asrava', 'nirjarā', etc., is samyagdrsţi (possessed of right faith), if he is convinced that by following the path of violence, etc., man harms his soul, while by following the path of non-violence, etc., he spiritually elevates and ennobles his soul. Thus faith or samyagdarśana invariably has conviction of a special sort as its essential ingredient.
The firm belief that the soul, though residing in body, is different from body and possesses special qualities not found in the body, and by means of the practice of the proper spiritual discipline can become free from the cycle of births and deaths is called samyaktva. It is not that such belief or faith is cherished by followers of a particular religious sect alone to the exclusion of all other sects. In fact, followers of any religious sect that accepts soul can entertain it. And whosoever lives strictly in accordance with it and thereby frees himself from the feeling of attachment as also from passions attains liberation.
The philosophy of soul is very deep and serene. Even a person who has no philosophical knowledge of the soul can have samyaktva, if he follows the righteous path of non-violence and truth. As a matter of fact, faith in the path of non-violence and truth is identical with faith in soul; or the former is closely related to the latter, one entails the other. And faith in the path of non-violence and truth is the essence of the faith in seven or nine reals accepted in the Jaina philosophy.
Each and every living being tries to be free from miseries and desires to be happy. 'May I be happy'—this desire is universal, it is found in all beings. The entity 'I' experienced in this act of desiring is accepted even by the hard-core materialist.
In the scriptures, we are asked to experience the soul and body as different and distinct. In other words, we are asked to have knowledge of the difference between self and not-self. Even understanding an materialists do have this knowledge. They acquire it in the following manner. They regard the entity referred to by. 'l' as self, and the body and all external objects as not-self. Thus having established l-entity as the main base or foundation and having understood feelings of misery and happiness of other beings in the light of direct experience of their own desirable and undesirable feelings of happiness and misery, they think it
that of belonging to non-Jaina sects, etc., is nothing but equanimity. On the strength of equanimity, they possess three jewels (right attitude-faith, right knowledge and right conduct) and consequently attain the internal state of a true Jaina.
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