Jinamanjari 2001 04 No 23

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

Page 22

pleasure and attachment to the world, family and relatives, body etc. (pratibandha).
According to śrīmad, svacchanda or self-willedness is the most serious blemish inhibiting an individual from seeking self-realization. śrīmad uses the terms ātmārthi, or the one who is interested in the realization of his self, for the aspirant (mumukṣu) and matärthi, or the one who is interested in his own opinions, for the non-aspirant. He discusses their respective merits and de-merits in his famous work Ātmasiddhi. We shall deal with the same later on.
(4) It seems, at the time Śrimad played both roles, namely those of a master and of an aspirant. For example, in a letter to Sobhāgyabhāī Lallubhãi, he maintains with confidence that he has almost reached internal perfection. By renouncing his householder status, he will be in a position to experience final liberation or nirvikalpa samādhi within a short period of time. He will then be in a position to propagate spirituality just like the Tirthankaras (like Mahāvīra). Whatever a Tirthankara realized, it is possible to do so in this time. In the same letter he makes a contradictory statement. He observes, "Nirvikalpatā already exists in me, but there is no renunciation. Only after renunciation may one think of preaching spirituality to others. Therefore, one should renounce first and then make others to renounce the world and become a monk." In another letter written to Sobhāgyabhāī, śrīmad plainly remarks that he is knowledge incarnate (jñāna avatāra) and absolutely passionless (vītarāga), though he is still involved in mundane life (as a householder).
(5) In item No. 209 and 218 in the volume Srimad Rājacandra, śrīmad states that although the ultimate reality, i.e. paramasat, has been described by the sages in various ways, by employing different names such as puruṣottama, hari, siddha, iśvara, parabrahma, paramātmā etc., in experience, it is one and the same. Here, śrīmad uses both Jain and non-Jain terminologies while discussing the ultimate reality. He even formally accepts the non-Jain concept of the adhisthāna, that is the governing principle of the universe in the form of the cosmic conscious principle called hari, parabrahma, puruşottama etc.,