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Jaina View of Life
The keynotes of mysticism are growth, autonomy, selfrealisation, self-actualisation and self-transcendence.". Man cannot complete himself without relating the values of the individualised ego to the wholeness of being and the universe. This is possible only when all the ego-centric desires and goals are transcended into the ultimate-values and meaning of life. The mystic dwells in a different world of his own. The transcendental consciousness dominates the normal consciousness. Time and place, nationality and creed have no relevance for a mystic.
III. For a Jaina Mokşa is the highest ideal. It is the highest form of self-realisation and the self to be realised is the transcendental self.
For the Jaina, God-realisation is self-realisation. The Jainas sought the divine in man and established the essential divinity of man. This conception has been developed in specific directions in Jaina philosophy.
The existence of the soul is a presupposition in the Jaina philosophy. Proofs are not necessary. It is described from the phenomenal and the noumenal points of view. From the phenomenal point of view, it possesses prānas; is the lord (prabhu), doer (karta), enjoyer (bhokta), limited to his body (dehamatra), still incorporeal and is ordinarily found with karma." From the noumenal point of view, soul is described in its sure form. It is pure and perfect. It is pure consciousness. It is upbound, untouched and no other than itself. We may also say that from this point of view it is characterised by upayoga which is a hormic force. The joys and sorrows that the soul experiences are due to the fruits of karma which it accumulates due to the incessant activity that it is having. This entanglement is beginningless, but it has an end. The deliverance of the soul from the wheel of (samsāra) is possible by voluntary
11. Mukherjee (Radhakamal) : The Theory and Art of Mysticism (Asia
Publishing House 1961), p. 14. 12. Pancastikāyasära. p. 27 and Samayusära. p. 124.
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