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medium of infinite, intuitive knowledge in contradistinction to the metaphysician who gets merely intellectual satisfaction by mediately comprehending the whole of existence. In other words, the mystic has Pratyaksa Anubhava, while the metaphysician has only Paroksa Anubhava.
. In the ethico-religio-philosophical works of the Jainas the highest good is diversely formulated. Fed up with the kaleidoscopic transformations of the world, the Jaina Ācāryas have dived deep into the inner hidden regions of the spirit, and have expressed the highest good in different ways. But it may be noted here that all the formulations of the highest good convey identical meaning.
LIBERATION (MOKŞA) AS THE HIGHEST GOOD : First, the liberation of self is deemed to be the highest good. Every human being ought to render strenuous efforts to seek his own salvation from the miseries of the world. All the systems of Indian philosophy with the solitary exception of Cārvāka acquiesce in recognising liberation as the ethical ideal, though they differ in the nature of realisation. Though the system like Nyāya-Vaiśesika, Sāṁkhya-Yoga, later PūrvaMīmāṁsā of Kumarila, Prabhākara, Vedānta of Sankara and early Buddhism regard liberation as the Summum Bonum of human life, yet they differ widely in expounding its nature. Some schools of thought describe it negatively as freedom from sorrows and sufferings, as an escape from the trammels of Saṁsāra, while the others describe it as a positive attainment of happiness or bliss. The champions of the former view are the Vaiseșikas, the early Naiyāyikas, the SāmkhyaYoga and some among the later Mimāṁsakas, and the early Buddhists. Of the latter view are the Jainas, the later
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Spiritual Awakening (Samyagdarśana) and Other Essays
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