Parmatma Prakash

Author(s): Yogindra Acharya
Publisher: Central Jaina Publishing House

Page 11

INTRODUCTION.
attributes which people associate with their God, or Gods, and dependent on his own exertions for the realisation of the highest ideal of Perfection and Happiness open to the imagination of man. To this extent there is a complete agreement between Jainism and Advaita, but when the latter goes further and denies the truth of the evolutionary process Jainism declares it to be false. The fact is that Advaitism has fallen into the error of one-sided Absolutism, and is consequently unable to explain the present condition of the ordinary Jiva from its limited point of view. The identity between the Jiva and Brahman, i.e., the Siddhatman, referred to in such texts as I am Brahman,'' That Thou art', and the like, holds good not absolutely, but only in respect of the natural properties of the soul, that is to say, from the Nishchaya point of view alone. The difference between an upevolved Jiva and a fully evolved ove is exactly the same as that between a dirty mirror and a clean one. They are both alike in respect of their reflecting power, but not in reference to the actual functioning thereof. The ordinary Jiva is like the dirty mirror, which has to be rubbed and polished before it can be expected to take its place by the side of the finest specimens of its class. The one-sidedness of Vedanta shuts it out of this view, and throws it into endless confusion and contradictions. Unable to perceive the fatal error committed by its philosophy, it tries to steer clear of doubts and difficulties by positing only one soul in existence, and by denying existence to all other living beings. The attempt is, however, as complete a failure as can ever be imagined in the region of Metaphysics, and the survival of Advaitism is due chiefly to the fact that its teaching appears to require no effort of self-exertion for the realisation of the Ideal in view. That Advaitism is inconsistent altogether on this point is clear to any body who cares to think for himself. Advaitism maintains that there are not two or more souls in existence, but only one, which is seated distributively among all the forms, or bodies, in the universe, so that it alone is the true being in each and every organism. This one soul is immutable, unchanging and ever blissful. The question which now arises on the above hypothesis is : who is it that feels pain and misery in the samsara ? But Vedanta has no reply to give to this question, for if it were to say that it is Brahman who feels the pain, it would at once contradict his attribute of eternal blissfulness, and