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Jaina View of Life
accompaniments may be mentioned as another example of this motivation. The promulgator of this cult was, perhaps, Helācārya of Ponnur. According to the prevailing belief at that time, mastery overspells and mantravidyā was considered as a qualification for superiority. The Jaina acharyas claimed to be master mantravādins, 8a Jainism had to compete with the other Hindu creeds. Yakşi form of worship must have been introduced in order to attract the common men towards Jainism, by appealing to the popular forms of worship.
V. Jaina mysticism as we have said earlier, turns round two concepts : the Ātman and the Paramātman. Paramātman stands for God, though never a creator. And the creative aspect of divinity is not sine qua non of mysticism.88 Ātman and Paramātman are essentially the same. In samsāra the Ātman is in karmic bondage, and once he frees himself from the bondage he is the Paramātman. It is for the mystic to realize this identity or unity by destroying the karmic encrustration of the spirit.54
32. ibid. p. 74. 33. Paramātmaprakáša and Yogasära Edt. by Dr. A. N. Upadhye.
(Manilal Jhaveri, Bombay, 1937) Introduction; p. 40. 34. ibid.
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