Sacred Philosophy

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Champat Rai Jain

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In Hinduism also we have it that the Atman (the individual soul) and Paramâtman (God) are the same. Thus all concur in the dictum of the Jaina Siddhanta that the soul is a divinity in embryo; but the question is, how is the potential to be translated into the actual? In other words, how are we to attain to the status of a God? The answer to these questions is quite simple, and consists in the removal of the causes which debar us from the enjoyment of our natural properties, omniscience, bliss and immortality. For it is but common sense to say that the removal of the cause must lead to the disappearance of the effect. The problem, then, reduces itself to the simple question, what is the force which prevents us from the enjoyment of our natural attributes, and how is it generated ?
Now, it is obvious that the functions of a substance cannot be limited, modified or curtailed, except by some other substance. It follows, therefore, that if the soul is unable to exercise its natural functions, its inability to do so must be due to the harmful influence of some other substance with which it must be associated. The Jaina Siddhânta points out that matter is the substance which gets into combination with spirit and thereby gives rise to various kinds of forces, restricting and curtailing the natural properties and functions of the soul.