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JAINISM AND WORLD PROBLEMS
completely separate themselves from the flesh for all times, enjoy immortality, as many are doing now in the Abode of the Pure Perfect Souls, who are bodiless and immortal.
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Amongst the other attributes of the soul are such worshipful qualities as Omniscience and Bliss. The soul is really endowed by nature with all those attributes which are associated with our highest conception of Divinity. Every soul is, thus, its own God, since it is independent of all outside nature in respect of the real goods that count. This justifies the statement which ranks the soul as a God, and which is to be found in all religions. The actions that are concerned with the world outside, through the body, concern the body, and are performed for the welfare of the body, which is the enemy of the soul. They must be brought to a stop, if release from the body is the aim. Jainism is, however, a practical religion, and is well aware of the weakness of human nature. It does not demand from its followers that they should give up the world altogether at once. The Path is divided into two sections, the higher and more austere, and the lower and less trying. Saints tread the higher path; laymen follow the one less austere. The layman's path is the training ground for saints. A layınan who has perfected himself in his duties and dharma (religion) becomes qualified to obtain admission in sainthood, with the next step in renunciation, the discarding of clothes.
The saint's life is one of self-denial in the fullest sense of the term. He it is of whom it may be said in the Biblical language "Foxes have holes and the birds of the air nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head." As for food, he is content in the belief that man shall not live by bread alone. He follows the example of the lilies of the field in regard to clothing; they do not brother themselves about dress; neither does he ! Possessions he has already sold off and given away in charity. he regards as entanglements for the soul; he hates his own
Relations, even wife and home,
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