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Jaina Philosophy and Religion
knowledge and practice. A chariot cannot move on one wheel alone. Once in a forest there burst out a conflagration. At that time a cripple and a blind man were there in the forest. They cooperated with one another. So they could save themselves and reached the city safely. The lame man sat on the shoulder of the blind man and the latter walked as directed by the former. Thus they helped one another. Hence they were saved. If they had not cooperated with one another, they would have been devoured by the conflagration. Knowledge is compared to the lame man and practice to the blind man. When they associate with one another and cooperate mutually, they certainly attain the desired end or success. But, if they remain separate and single, they will become powerless and hence will not be able to attain success or desired end.
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Even though possessed of right knowledge, one does not attain the desired fruit, if one fails to act in accordance with the knowledge. Although competent due to knowledge possessed by it as its guide, the soul does not attain liberation in the absence of spiritual practice. Knowledge without practice does not lead to liberation. Nor does practice without knowledge lead to it. One without the other is powerless. One finds its fulfilment in the other. Without this fulfilment mere knowledge is cripple and mere practice is blind. Knowledge enlightens practice. And practice makes knowledge efficient and dynamic. Knowledge and practice are equally necessary for success. This is, in brief, the mutual relation between knowledge and practice.
Now we propose to deal with definitive standpoint (niscaya-naya) and empirical standpoint (vyavahāra-naya).
We can perceive, through sense-organs, a soul and matter in their empirical form. Matter is atomic in its ultimate original form. Hence in this form it is not perceptible. But matter in its empirical form is always in the state of an aggregate, which is formed by the combination of infinite-times-infinite number of atoms. So in its empirical form it is amenable to sense-perception. As, in its pure state, the soul is beyond sense-perception, it can never be experienced through sense-organs. But being associated with matter in its empirical state, it is amenable to sense perception. The ultimate spiritual aim of a living being is to purify the impure soul by removing all impurities that soil it on account of its association with matter. The standpoint that concentrates on the original pure nature of a thing is called the definitive standpoint (niscaya-naya). On the other hand, the standpoint that concentrates on the empirical
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