On Life and Liberation

Author(s): Mukesh Chhajer
Publisher: Mukesh Chhajer

Page 36

On Life and Liberation
because of our extroverted tendencies and, as a consequence, unable to reach the Guru within. As long as we are looking for a guru outside, our progress depends upon external sources and we are controlled by the external time cycle. Once we reach the Guru within, the path to liberation is always open; the jiva is now born in the Videha kshetra.
Now, in this context, let's try to understand what is dharma and adharma. While it has been emphasized often that these two concepts are unique to Jain philosophy, very little is said about them. Given that these two are such essential parts of the Jain universe and modern science has yet to identify any substance that will match the characteristics of these two, their existence in the macroscopic universe remains a matter of faith. However, since we are here concerned with the microscopic
n macroscopic, are there any qualities that can give us the clues to these two illusive substances in the microscopic world? For this, we need to understand who is traveling and what is the nature of its journey?
To answer this question, let's first ask ourselves who the real traveler is? Since, we are considering the universe as microcosm rather than macrocosm, we need to search the traveler within. The inner traveler is the jiva or the soul. The traveling of the body does not necessarily mean the journey of the jiva because the two journeys are different and not necessarily correlated. What kind of a journey does a jiva go through? While the jiva with its attached pudgal travels through the external space, the only journey worth considering for the jiva is its spiritual journey, i.e., its journey from its stage of bondage to its liberation. Even though the body and soul are bound together, the journey of the body is to go from one place to another in the external world; the journey of the soul is to go from the state of bondage to the state of liberation. In the state