Book Title: Spiritual Enlightenment
Author(s): Yogindu Deva, A N Upadhye
Publisher: Radiant Publishers

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Page 48
________________ 34 : Spiritual Enlightenment Brahman are one and the same. Brahman is a magnanimous and all-pervading presence which permeates the self as well as non-self. Brahman is the only All-personality; he represents an universal, abstract and impersonal presence. This Brahman originally meant a Vedic hymn, the powerful prayer; so Brahman later on came to represent a mighty power that creates, pervades and upholds the whole range of universe. Though repeatedly attributes are denied of him, no doubt Brahman is conceived as a pure Being -absolute, infinite, immutable and eternal from whom everything else derives its reality. Thus Brahman in turn is Atman, infinite, ageless and eternal. Yogindu's Super-spirit compared with Upanishadic Brahman: Joindu's reflections on Atman and Paramantman, which have been constructively summarised above, deserve to be compared with Upanishadic utterances whose spirit is sufficiently imbued by our author, even though his details are set in the metaphysical framework of a heterodox system like Jainism. The word Brahman has a consistent history in Vedic literature; and in the Upanishads Brahman is conceived as the Absolute, one without a second. Joindu freely borrows that word and repeatedly uses it in this work. Even Samantabhadra, a staunch propagandist of Jainism, uses the word Brahman in its generalised sense, viz., the highest principle, when he says: ahimsa bhutanam jagati viditam brahma paramam. In the Upanishads the word “Paramatman” is not of so much frequent occurrence as the word Brahman, though both are taken as synonyms in texts like Nrsimhottaratapani. In Indian philosophical texts identity of words may nor necessarily imply the identity of their sense-content. Brahman and Paramatman are used as synonyms, because they represent the concept of an ultimate reality. According to Jainism, Paramatman is a super-spirit representing the ultimate point of spiritual evolution of Atman by gradual destruction of Karman through penances, etc. Each Atman becomes a Paramatman and retains

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