________________
Introduction
17
The highest and eternal fruit of Moksa is that there is infinite Darsana (faith or vision), knowledge, happiness (and strength) without being lost even for a moment. (11)
The souls attain liberation through Right Faith (or vision). Knowledge and Conduct which really speaking consist respectively in seeing, knowing and conducting oneself by oneself. From the ordinary point of view Right Faith, Knowledge and Conduct constitute the means of Moksa, but really speaking the soul itself is all the three. The Ātman sees, knows and realizes himself by himself; therefore the Ātman himself is the cause of Mokşa. Proper knowledge of the soul constituted of Right Faith, Knowledge and Conduct leads to spiritual purity. (12-14)
Samyagdarśana or Right Faith consists in the steady belief in the true nature of Ātman resulting from the knowledge of various substances exactly as they are in the universe. Those are the six substances which fill these three worlds and which have no beginning and end. Of these six, Jiva or soul is a sentient substance; and the remaining five, namely, Pudgala or matter, Dharma or the principle of motion, Adharma or the principle of rest, Ākāśa or space and Kala or time are insentient and separate from the soul. Really speaking (so far as its essential nature is concerned) the soul is non-corporal, an embodiment of knowledge, characterised by supreme bliss and (one that can achieve) an eternal condition of purity. Matter, in its six types, is corporal or concrete (murta, 1. e., having sense-qualities and thus amenable to sense-perception); while others, along with Dharma and Adharma or the principles of rest and motion, are non-corporal. That is kuown as Ākāśa or sky in which all the remaining substances exist, i.e., which gives room to all the remaining substances. Kala or time is a substance characterised by vartana, i.e., continuity an accessory cause of change when things themselves are undergoing a change; the moments of time are individually separate like jewels in a heap of jewels. Excepting Jiva (soul), Pudgala (matter) and Kala (time), the remaining substances, namely, Dharma (the principle of motion). Adharma (the principle of rest) and Äkāśa (space) are indivisible and homogeneous wholes, Besides Jiva (soul) and Pudgala (matter), the remaining four substances. namely, Dharma, Adharma, Ākāśa and Kala have no movement. Dharma, Adharma and a soul occupy innumerable space-points. Ākāśa occupies Infinite space-points, and Pudgala or matter has manifold space-point. Though the six substances exist together in the physical space, they exist in fact in their own gunas or qualities or attributes. These various substances fulfil their on functions for the embodied beings which wander in Samsara suffering the miseries of four grades of existence. The very nature of these substances has been the cause of misery; so one should follow
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
