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Lord Mahavira Thus the Jaina view agrees with the Půrva Mimansâ in emphasizing the potency of karman as the basic principle of samsara (relative world) but differs from it in maintaining the doctrine of Sarvajnas. It, however, resembles Vedanta in holding that every individual jiva is potentially a Paramatman. According to the Jaina view after conquering all the karmas and destroying all the bonds or worldly attachments, the Self exists in its supreme purity as Siddha-parameshthin endowed with the qualities of infinite perception, infinite-knowledge, infinite bliss, and infinite power. Such a Parameshthin with infinite qualities is the conqueror of samsara, is the Jina, a God, and serves as the ideal to be aimed at by all persons who desire to escape from the cycle of transmigration.
After the Siddha-parameshthins, the Jainas recognize the Arhat parameshthins. They represent a lower stage in liberation than the Siddha-parameshthin because they are still attached with a body. Otherwise there is no difference between the two. 41 They are important from the human point of view, because it is in this stage of Arhathood that the Arhats or Tîrthankaras periodically reveal, for the benefit of the world, the path to salvation and the various Agamas or scriptures embodying the knowledge of the Ultimate Reality. That is why in the Jaina Onkâra mantra the Arhats are placed before the Siddhas. The status of the Arhats corresponds to that of the founders of other religions and to the conception of the avataras. After destroying the karmaic bondages through tapas the Tîrthankara attains omniscience in this world. He becomes free from wants and desires, remains uncontaminated by the defects of the body which still clings to him, is filled with universal love and mercy for all living beings, and spends his time in propounding the dharma for the benefit of the jivas that are still entangled in the bonds of the world. Such Tîrthankaras appear in the world in different cosmic periods, a cosmic period according to the jaina philosophy consisting of an age of evolution and growth, followed by an age of dissolution and decay. The former is called utsarpini and the latter avasarpini, the two constituting the complete cosmic. 42
Besides the Siddha and Tîrthankara parameshthins, Jainism recognizes three other kinds of beings who deserve reverence and worship from the devotees. These are the acharya-parameshthin,
