________________
29) Men or God
225
body, not for pursuit of any good, any gratification of the sense nor any kindly goal.“
In the fourteenth stage of Guñasthāna called AyogaKevali, the self has attained peaceful perfection. The influx of Karma is completely stopped and the self is freed from all Karmic dust.“ This state lasts only for a period of time required to pronounce five syllables. At the end of this period the soul attains disembodied liberation. Being now free, with its upward motion the soul attains the liberation or Mokşa.
The liberated souls live in perfect peace and purity in siddhasila which is the abode of the omniscient souls. In the Tiloyapaņņasji we get the description of the siddhasila, which is also called the mokşasthāna or nirvanasthāna. These freed souls enjoy 'a kind of interpenetrating existence on account of their oneness of status'. Their soul substance has a special power by which an infinity of souls could exist without mutual exclusion. The identity of the saved is determined by the living rhythm retaining the form of the last physical life and by the knowledge of the past. The conception of the liberated soul and the abode of the souls in siddhasila where they live with all their individuality, is a logical possibility and psychologically significant.
Epilogue 1. We may not attain Mokşa; we do not need to. We can still keep the ideal of perfection before us and look to the perfect souls, as ideals to guide us, like the kindly light in this life.
2. Struggle for perfection is a necessary factor in life. Sorrow and imperfection are a flavour to the sauce. They are necessary for onward journey in the spiritual struggle. The efforts for self-realization will have meaning only when this
40. Zimmer (H.): Philosophies of India, p. 446. 41. Gommafasāra : Jivokānda. 42. Radhakrishnan (S.) Indian Philosophy, Vol. I, p. 333.
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