Laghutattvasphota

Author(s): Amrutchandracharya, Padmanabh S Jaini, Dalsukh Malvania, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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pariņati), whether souls or the material world, and also that these can somehow effect change in his own destiny. Ignorant of the law of upādāna, which governs both himself and others, he engages in manifold activities, morally wholesome or unwholesome, in the attempt to enforce such changes in others as would suit his egotistic wishes. These efforts, of course, invariably meet with frustration and sorrow. The path of salvation and peace lies in selfreliance and isolation, and these are gained only by realizing the law of upādāna. Having attained this realization, the aspirant will see that external supports and activities are both useless and undesirable; he will thus be led to relinquish them and to seek refuge only in the self.
But which self? The uninstructed person is aware only of that 'self' which he identifies with the body, the vital breath, and the sense faculties. These the Jaina includes in "bahiratman", the 'exterior' self; neither this nor the mind nor the psychological states which one experiences from moment to moment can be the true self. Mind, according to the Jaina, is twofold; it has a physical basis (dravya-manas), but also includes a non-physical 'organ' which cognises and coordinates the activities of the senses. This non-physical aspect is bhava-manas; it is not different from the soul. But this cannot be the true nature of the soul either, for the obvious reason that it is invariably a defiled state from which the aspirant seeks dissociation. The mind is the seat of the kaşayas (passions), and although these are not material, they are nevertheless formed in the soul in association with karmic matter; the aspirant must understand them in this way and then reject them. In doing this it may be helpful to cultivate morally wholesome states, e.g. forgiveness (kşamā), compassion (karuņā). friendliness (maitri), disinterestedness (upekṣā), etc., states which may lead to conditions favourable to the attaining of samyaktva (true knowledge of the self). This is called the "antaratman," the 'interior' self. But even this state is not the final goal of the aspirant. The true nature of the soul must be that which remains when one is totally isolated from both body and the mind. This is characterized by omniscience (kevala-jñāna), perfect energy (virya), perfect bliss (sukha) and perfect purity; once attained, it can never be lost or defiled again. It is what the Jaina calls "paramātman" or the 'transcendent' self, the ultimate goal of the aspirant.29
The Jaina recognises that physical embodiment and psychological states are real and not imaginary, and also that they both belong to the soul and not to matter. But in order to transcend them he must deny their identification with the soul, reserving this identity only for the paramātman. Since the goal of the aspirant is isolation and salvation, the Jaina Acaryas admonish him to regard every defiled state of the soul, (which technically includes all states of embodiment, i.e., the fourteen gunasthanas), 30 as external to him; he must find no support, but 'pure consciousness', which transcends all