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Essentials of Jaina Philosophy
LIBERATION (MOKṢA)
On account of the removal of the causes of bondage as also on account of the dissociation of the bound karmas, there takes place the total and absolute dissociation of all karmas. This is liberation. In liberation the soul is totally and absolutely free from all karmas and consequently established in its pure and pristine state. To move upward on the total and absolute removal of all the karmas is the nature of soul. We have already given an instance of a gourd to explain this phenomenon. Moving upward when the soul reaches the end of the universe, it stops there and rests there. It cannot move further upward because beyond the upper limit of the universe there is no medium of motion, an assisting cause of motion, there. Nor can it move back downward, because it has no weight, nor sideways, because it is devoid of any urge generated by karmas.
In the state of liberation the soul is absolutely free from all karmas, the hampering and defiling adjuncts. And consequently it does not have body, sense-organs and mind altogether. So, bliss or happiness that the liberated experiences is not conditioned and perverted by them. It is eternal, infinite and pure. It is indescribable and matchless. All sensual pleasures taken together of all the three worlds are nothing before the highest natural bliss of the liberated. Some have doubt in their mind: How can there be any pleasure or happiness in the state of liberation because in that state there is total absence of all the means of sensual pleasure? In liberation, there are no gardens, no women, no vehicles, no sweet dishes, etc. But how can we forget that all the miseries a soul experiences in the world are due to its desire for sensual pleasures? Afflictions due to desire for sensual pleasures are the only afflictions that we find in the world. The reason why we enjoy sweet and delicious dishes is that we are afflicted with hunger. When one's belly is full, one does not like even the nectar-sweet food. We do not like to wear in scorching heat of the summer sun those very clothes which we like to wear in winter to remove sufferings due to cold. One who has sat for long, wishes to walk. And one who is tired of walking, wishes to sit and rest. Enjoyment of sensual pleasures at the end appears as unfavourable as it has appeared favourable in the beginning. How queer are the events in this world? Do the objects that we regard as means of happiness produce any positive happiness besides some relief? When a suppurated boil bursts we experience relief. But that is no real positive happiness. It is merely subsidence of pain. The pleasure we experience in sensual enjoyment is nothing but
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