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4
SAMAYASARA
with the Pure Self which has destroyed all the upadhic conditions constituted by karmic matter.
After stating the characteristics of sva-samaya the author indicates the nature of the empirical ego by stating that it is in association with the very upadhic conditions of karmic matter which are absent in the case of the Pure Self. The Self in association with the upadhic conditions is not an entirely different entity from the Pure Self which is designated as Svasamaya. If the two are identical in nature, the question naturally arises, how does the Ego-in-itself which is pure in nature and which is free from extraneous contamination of Karmic material, become degraded to an empirical ego entirely enmeshed in Karmic upadhis. Here is a distinct deterioration in the nature of the Self which may be termed as the Fall of Man. This Fall of Man, as is already stated, is the central theme of religious philosophy all over the world. The self in its pure nature is recognised to be entirely free from Karmic shackles and yet in the concrete world he is found always in chains. He is by nature free and yet he is everywhere found in chains. What is the explanation of this great spiritual degradation? The Semetic religions, Judaism and Christianity, conveniently answer the question of the Fall of Man by the hypothesis of the original sin. But the Indian systems of thought do not adopt such a cheap and convenient hypothesis. The explanation offered by the Jaina system of metaphysics, places the association of the Self with extraneous matter in the beginningless past. The empirical Self in samsara is assumed to be in association with upadhic conditions and it is said to struggle to extricate itself from the shackles of Karmic conditions in its attempt to realise the ideal and goal-the Liberated Self. The problem therefore for the Jaina metaphysician is not the problem of the Fall of Man and the Lost Paradise. On the other hand, it is the reverse of this. It is a grand pilgrimage to the spiritual goal, a noble excelsior towards the hilltop of the Region of Peace and Purity towards which the whole creation moves. This conception in some form or other is accepted by the other Indian systems also. Sankara in
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