Spiritual Enlightenment

Author(s): Yogindu Deva, A N Upadhye
Publisher: Radiant Publishers

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Spiritual Enlightenment
4. Paramatman or the Super-spirit as the Divinity
Paramatman is the eternal Deva, divinity, that dwells in liberation at the top of three worlds never to come back in Samsara (I. 4, 25, 33, etc.). There are infinite Siddhas, i.e. the liberated souls, who have attained self-realization and are to be meditated upon with a steady mind (I. 2, 16, 39); there are then Arahantas, the same as Tirthankaras, who are on the point of attaining liberation with their four Karmas destroyed, whose words are to be accepted as authoritative, and who are to be worshipped (I. 62, II. 20, 168, 195-96, etc.); and lastly there are three classes of monks (muni) who practise great meditation and realize Paramatman in order to achieve the great bliss (I. 7). It is these five Paramagurus, i.e., the great spiritual preceptors, that are to be saluted, and to whom the prayers are to be offered (I. 11, II. 168).
The Conception of Divinity Explained: Atman to Paramatman is a course of spiritual evolution; and it is the duty of every aspiring soul to see that it reaches the stage of Paramatman. There are various stages on the path worked out according to the destruction or partial destruction of different Karmas. Paramatman is the God not as a creative agency, but merely as an ideal to all the aspirants. Paramatman is latent in the Atman, therefore the Atman must always meditate on the nature of Paramatman that the potent powers thereof might be fully manifested. Paramatmans form a class, all equal, with no classes among themselves....
5. The World and Liberation or Samsara
and Moksha
Since infinite time the soul is dwelling in Samsara experiencing great misery in the four grades of existence (I. 9