Samayasara

Author(s): Kundkundacharya, J L Jaini
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown

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tion of Svami Kartikeya's Anupreksha none is older than Shri Kunda Kunda's. The tradition is much older. It is unbroken, continuous. Indeed it is claimed to be Eternal. But in its written form, no work is older than the Soul-analysing, Soul-clarifying, Soul-illuminating stanzas of Shri Kunda Kunda. They sparkle with one life and shed one white lustre, namely, the Divine, Limitless Nature of Soul when absorbed in Itself. Sva-Samaya or Self-Absorption is the key-note, the purpose, the lesson, the object, the goal and the centre of Sri Kunda Kunda's all works and teachings. The Pure, All-Conscious, Self-absorbed Soul is God and never less or more. Any connection, Causal or Effectual, with the non-Self is a delusion, limitation, imperfection, bondage. To obtain Liberation or Deification this connection must be destroyed. Thus and then the "bound" soul, bandah, becomes the Liberated Soul, Jo to Self, 3 Zat-e-paka, "Pure Entity." The Son of man returns to His Father in Heaven. HIMSELF. Man becomes GOD.
Khuda, "Self come The man becomes Man.
Man becomes
To guard against any misunderstanding of Jainism, this Central Teaching, this clear golden goal must ever be kept in mind and in view.
It may well and legitimately be asked: what is the practical use of this Jaina idea of Self-Absorption ?
The answer is: The mere insight into and knowledge of this Real Reality, is of everyday use in the conduct of our individual and collective lives. It is a true and the only panacea for all our ills. Its rigour may be hard. Its preliminary demand may occasion a wrench from our cherished habits, customs, and fashions of thought and action. But its result-which is immediate, instantaneous and unmistakable,-justifies the hardship and the demand. The relief and service, the sure uplift of ourselves, the showering of calm balm, by the practice of self-realisation, upon the sore souls of our brethren and sisters justify the price paid. Indeed it is merely the temporary yielding of a hollow, fleeting pleasure for the attainment of a real, permanent Happiness and Peace, which once gained, can never be lost. Once the soul has had its first dip into its own milkwhite nectar Ocean of SELF; in Christian phrase, once the Soul has seen the Presence of God, it can never go away from it for ever. It must come back to the Presence sooner or later, and oftener; till in the end it is always THERE and nowhere else.