Jinamanjari 1999 09 No 20

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 29

The Fruit of Right Conduct
Having described and explained the general characteristics of sammattacaraṇa cărittaṁ -- Right Conduct and the distinctive and distinguishing prescriptions for the laity and the clergy -- Kundakunda dwells deeply about the rightful fruit to bear out of it. He concludes the treatise on the subject in forty-five stanzas, affirming the Jaina metaphysics in part to unfold interrelationship between the basics and exegetic and to experience the true nature of soul and its journey towards its final spiritual liberation.
Darsanaņāņacarittas tiņņi vi jāņēha paramasaddhayz Jam jāņivuņa joyi ayirēņa lahanti ņivvānaṁ - 40
Exercise perception, knowledge, conduct. To learn about liberation in short.
Cărittasamārūdho appāsu paraṁ ņ ihaē ņāņi Pāvayi ayirēna suhaṁ aņāvam jāņa ņichayado - 43
One who dwells in knowledge good conduct desires no material, He enjoys in full bliss at the shortest period possible.
Thus Kundakunda concludes that the fruit of Right Conduct upon initiation at the level of the laity and the clergy is that of the begnining of the process to experince possible Eternal Bliss. Because of the process, the laity over a period of time diligently aligns consciousness within the intricate realm of Right Conduct and desires no other things in life and aspires to realize Blissful Liberation.
Sammattacaraña Cārittaṁ (Right Conduct) therefore assumes a formidable characteriological tool in Jaina lifeways for ethical and spiritual dispositions. In the life enactment, it is the ways and means that unfold to a path to spiritual salvation. From a sociological point of view, this Jaina process is a manifestation of the pious intentions and moral ethos prescribed in the religious context. Thus Jainism, unlike other eastern faiths, champions a complete and total responsibility of individual soul.
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