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The Path of Arhat : A Religious Democracy
vity of Prakrti is intended for the experience of Puruşa. Strictly speaking, even this experiencing is due to 'Abhimāpa' ( sense of self-hood ), born of 'Aviveka' (non-discrimination ). When the truth is known, there is neither pleasure nor pain neither agency nor enjoyment."
It is clear from these observations which are based on different texts on Sankhya, that the 'Kūțastha' Puruşa which is all knowledge and consciousness, forgets its own nature and is deluded into the belief that it is he who thinks, feels and acts. Puruşa thus becomes bound due to its ignorance and once it is removed it attains its true and original character. However it is not clear why a Küçastha' Purusa who is all knowledge and consciousness becomes deluded and ignorant and thus becomes bound by karmas.
Prof. Satkari Mookerjee of Calcutta University makes a more pertinent point in his article on 'Sárikhya-Yoga', when he observes as under on the question of bondage and emancipation :
“The bondage of the self is reflected by its identification with the Buddhi and the egoity. And this identification is due to the reflection of the pure spirit in the Buddhi and the consequent failure on the part of the spirit to distinguish itself from the former. This non-discrimination results in the identification of the two which further and further leads to the identification of the pure self with the successive series of evolutes ... The emancipation is achieved by the discriminative knowledge that the self is entirely different from and unaffected by the not-self ...... For this, a long course of ethical discipline is necessary. The first essential condition is the abandonment of attachment to the attractive things of the world - honour, wealth, position and power. The practice of Yogic discipline is recommended for this purpose. It enables the spirit to recover its sense of freedom.” 1. History of Philosophy : Eastern and Western, Published by
Government of India, p. 251.
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