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Whitehead's Constructive Metaphysics....
: 27
King Ugrasen, the Princess's father, came to meet the Prince. He saw the Prince releasing the animals and asked, "Why have you released these animals, O Prince? The Prince replied, “How can we humans rejoice when so many animals are suffering? How can we humans feast on these innocent animals and birds we are meant to protect? What use is happiness if it is built on the suffering of so many?' With this the Prince turned his chariot and went back. The wedding was called off. After some time, the Prince became a monk. Princess Rajimati followed in his footsteps and became a nun. The Prince Nemi Kumar was none other than the 22nd Tirthankara Bhagvan Neminath.”
Orthodox Jainism Although both stories are similar, there is a marked difference in the outcome which, if we go back far enough, tells us about the central tenets they are trying to portray. The purpose of Jain narrative literature is to use it as a didactic tool, using case based logic, to make doctrine understandable. For Orthodox Jainism, the focus is on liberation of the soul. The story used is that of the wedding of Nemi Kumar. The logic is found in the if/then statement, highlighting the doctrine of ahiṁsā, aparigraha and anekāntavāda (if in an indirect way). The practice that needs to be done is found in Nemi Kumar's giving away of his possessions to the elephant driver and becoming an ascetic monk, stating that "happiness is in freedom, not in bondage. I want to tread the path of breaking this bondage of karma and embrace eternal bliss." However, what grounds the doctrine of ahimsa, aparigraha and anekantvad is the outcome for Nemi; it is his soul which is at stake.
In Orthodox Jainism, the most fundamental factor of all things is that the universe is made up
es, jīva and ajīva (matter). The jiva is an invisible eternal substance, which can neither be created nor be destroyed. It cannot be perceived by the senses, but has all the qualities of cetanā (sentiency) and upayoga (manifestation of con- sciousness), as well as darśana (intuition or indeterminate perception) and jñāna (cognition or definite knowledge).
However, its form or mode changes. It begins in a very simple mode, for example, of a single sensed being and can become as detailed as a five-sensed being, a man. The process by which the jiva is able to change modes through ajīva matter. The soul is connected to matter through time in its path to liberation, called mokşa. The reason that mokṣa is necessary is because the soul is connected to matter and matter has obscured the soul from knowing its true potential as liberated. Liberation of matter, in the forms of pudgala (matter), dharma (medium of motion), adharma (medium of rest), äkāśa (space) and kāla (time), can only be achieved through human form and through the process of religious practices that remove karma from the soul, which are practiced by followers of the Jain religion, householder and to a more strict degree Svetāmbara or Digambara monks.
For the orthodox Jains, the goal of reaching liberation can only be found within the self and it is through a process of awareness, awareness that outside of the self exists other jīvas seeking liberation and that in every act one does, one performs a violence in some way to one another, another jīva. Because of this, the body attracts karma, whether good or bad, which deters one from reaching mokṣa. The only way to attain this liberation, to understand full knowledge and
