Jainism a Theistic Philosophy

Author(s): Krishna A Gosavi
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 86

JAINISM: A THEISTIC PHILOSOPHY "GOD IN JAINISM"
The external self, out of ignorance and attachment, take the body for the self. It says, “I am the body and the physical objects are mine. The internal self, that is mind, is aware of the difference between the self and non-self. It knows that the self is the supreme reality, free from objectivity and untouched by sense enjoyment. The word Paramātmā denotes the real and ultimate form of the supreme which is pure, perfect and luminous. Such a soul is called siddha or perfected. This is the last stage of the spiritual development.
III. (iii) Stages of Spiritual Development: A way to Godhood
The soul has inherent capacity of emancipation to attain Godhood but this capacity remains dormant and inactive unless and until it gets an opportunity for expression. Sometimes intrusions or association with those who have realized the truth or sometimes automatically soul realizes it. Tīrthankara, the soul who is enlightened and omniscient, reveals and preaches this inherent capacity of soul to others. Soul always have tendency to run away from the cycle of the world existence but this is counter acted by the forces of passion of affection (rāga) and aversion (dveșa) and other perverted attitude (mithyātva). However, the soul, during the course of its eternal wandering in various forms of existence, sometimes gets an indistinct vision of it and feels to realize itself. This feeling some time leads to spiritual development and eventually its emancipation. But the forces of passions attached with the soul from eternity, obstruct its goal.
During the struggle from forces of passions soul get attached to the karmic matter. Function of karmic matter is to delude the soul's right attitude towards predilection or truth. As the spiritual strength of soul develops by being attentive to cause of karma bondage, it starts advancing towards its goal and sooner or later within a limited time it gets emancipated.
36 Samădhitantra, 5.15.27, 30, 37