________________
THE GREAT SCRIPTURES OF JAINS
120
a high family, frequently in a low one; I am not mean nor noble, nor do I desire social preferent.” (1. 3. 1.).
The famous line "That who knows one, knows all;: that who knows all, knows one" gives a logical interpretation to the Jaina theory of Omniscience. According to the principal of relative existence everything is related to the other. Thus the complete knowledge of one thing. presupposes the knowledge of entirety.
In the second lecture known as "Conquest of the World”, he says that the apparent qualities of things are the root of sin. Beings are attracted by them, get attachment and suffer all sorts of miseries. This stanza reminds. us of the Kathopanişad making a distinction between good and pleasant.
He further says that the social relations of father, mother, wife, sister, son, daughter daughter-in-law etc., ensnare a person and distract him from the path of salvation. The first lecture taught men to rise above hatred and the second to be away from attachment. These are the two main factors which obstruct the progress of soul.
In the sixth lecture of the fifth chapter, we have a beautiful description of the state of liberation. "There, a being is freed from the cycle of birth and death and purified from the dust of karmans. The nature of such a state cannot be described in words. All words, fall short and return back without approaching it. Logic cannot reach it, Intellect cannot grasp it." We see here a clear tinge of the Upanişads, which is the general tone of the path of spiritualism.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org