Parmatma Prakash

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

Page 62

220-224]
PARMATMA-PRAKASH.
220. The saint who for the sake of Lobha (greed or profit) or Yashakirti (reputation) gives up the Shuddha Atma Dhyana (contemplation of the pure self) is like the man who for the sake of a nail pulls down a whole DevaMandira (place of worship).
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221. The (false) saint who thinks himself great simply by the acquisition of worldly possessions is devoid of the knowledge of Parmârtha. (the highest. object); thus has the Jinendra Deva said on the Ideal.
222. Those who know the Parmârtha, say that there is no inequality among the souls; all Jivas (souls) are Par-Brahma.
223. A saint who is devoted to the Ratan Traya (the three Jewels, that is, Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct) has this Lakshana (distinguishing feature) in himself that he does not make any distinction between soul and soul; no matter in whatever bodies they dwell, he regards them all as equal.
NOTE.--According to the Jain Siddhanta, the pure, real nature of Âtman which consists in infinite knowledge, is Brahma (God), and with reference to this real nature all souls although dwelling in various kinds of bodies, are one. One soul might occupy the body of an ant, another that of an elephant; here is a soul dwelling in the body of a man, there is one residing in that of a god; one man is poor, another is rich; in short, souls are occupying various kinds of bodies and positions, and we have to make a distinction. between them, but we should not overstretch this distinction and make it absolute. We should rather look at things in this way that so far as the effect of Karmas is concerned, these distinctions between soul and soul hold good, but with reference to their pure, real nature, there is no distinction between them. As all souls are Brahma in respect of their nature, they are alike, and cannot be regarded as superior or inferior to one another.
But this doctrine of Jainism must not be confounded with the absolute monism of Vedanta which holds that there is One Brahma and all the worldly souls are its parts. According to Jainism, Jivas (souls) are, in number, Ananta (infinite), but with reference to their Svâbhâva (real nature) they are one. Omniscience is the Svâbhâva (real nature) of the soul, and the soul as existing in its Svâbhâva is Brahma. And as this Svábhâva or Brahma is one and the same in every soul, and as all souls possess this Svâbhâva or Brahma in potentiality, they are all one and the same; hence the Acharya says here that those who are devotees of the Three Jewels do not make any distinction between soul and sout.
224. Fools are they who make a distinction between the different souls living in the three worlds. The wise regard all the souls as possessed of the substratum of Jñana (knowledge) and, consequently, as belonging to one genus.
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