Religion and Culture of the Jains

Author(s): Jyoti Prasad Jain
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

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RELIGION & CULTURE OF THE JAINS
Liberation
This nirvāṇa, mokşa, liberation or emancipation thus consists in the absolute freedom from karmans, both bhāva and dravya, when the inherent powers of the spirit are fully blossomed. It is the end of the world process, when the process has come to an end so far as a particular soul is concerned. In that state the soul is at its best. As Heinrich Zimmer puts in, “Cleansed of karmic matter, and thereby detached from bondage, this perfect one ascends in complete isolation to the summit of the universe, Yet, though isolated, he is all-pervading and endowed with omniscience; for since its essence has been relieved of qualifying individualizing features, it is absolutely unlimited." This state is, on the one hand, 'isolated, exclusive, alone; and, on the other, 'whole, entire, absolute', both being ideas pertaining to the sphere of beatitude in perfection. “This idea is strongly suggestive of the mystic teaching of Plotinus," as observed by another scholar, that the final stage in the mystic way is “The fight of the Alone to the Alone!”
The Jaina nirvāṇa is not the obliteration of the individual, nor of the inherent individual traits, nor is it the sub-mergence of the individuality into some universality. There is no state of a jīva beyond that of the liberated (mukta) one, and no form of its existence higher and nobler than this one. Moreover, with Jainism, liberation is essentially a religious concept, being recounted as the last and the highest of the seven tattvas, mentioned above, which are not merely metaphysical conditions but have a fully ethical import as well. As religious goal and the driving force of morality, nirvana is a positive achievement of the soul which freeing itself from karman acquires the state of perfectest and everlasting beatitude.
Divinity
The Jaina conception of divinity is also unique and is another illustration of realistic pluralism. Each soul, when completely immune from karmic influences, becomes itself svayambhū,