Mahavira Life and Philosophy

Author(s): Sumeruchand Diwakar Shastri
Publisher: Jain Mitra Mandal

Page 32

in an empirical self is always conditioned by an object in the external world. Nevertheloss * is not the externat object, that is the cause of bondage, it is by thought that bondage is caused' (265).
Thought without the basis of an external object never occurs in the consciousness of Self, If it is possible to have thought without the basis of an external object then thought corresponding to non-existing objects must also appear. In the case of a person born of a real mother, you can entertain the thought, I am going to kill her son ? But in the case of a barten woman, the thought, I am going to kill her son, would be meaningless, because there can be no son born to a barren woman. Hence it is certain that there can be no thought without a basis in reality. Hence it necessarily follows that condemnation of evil thoughts leads to the condemnation of corresponding objects of reality. for it is only by preventing the cause that the effect can be prevented from occuring." (Vide commentary on Samayasara by Prof. A. Chakravarti P. 166-167). Procedure
Before adopting asceticism, Mahavira offered his salutations to the Siddhas-the liberated souls, for his ultimate aim was to attain the status of Siddhahood, which is not tainted with material karmas and which is free from birth, death and transmigration. His ideal was to achieve the pure, perfect and perennial status of the soul, which is