Studies in Jainism

Author(s): Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta
Publisher: Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta

Page 44

JAINISM : ITS PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS
35
Vedānta in holding that every individual Jīva is potentially a Paramātman. As the commentator Gunaratna of Haribhadra Sūri's Saddarsana-samuccaya maintains, the only significance we can attach to the word 'astika' is a belief in the reality of Ātman, of samsāra (cycle of births and deaths), and of moksa (salvation) and the path to realize it (moksamarga). According to this interpretation, the darsana that could be truly called năstika is the Cārvāka, and partially that school of Buddhism which emphasizes Anātmavāda (the doctrine that there is no Ātman or Self).
PAÑCA-PARAMESTHINS Thus, according to Jainism, there is no creation of the world, nor is there any Creator necessary to explain the nature of the world. After completely conquering all the karmas and destroying all the shackles of sārsáric (worldly) consequences, the Self exists in its supreme purity as siddha-paramesthin, endowed with the qualities of infinite perception, infinite Knowledge, infinite bliss, and infinite power. This paramesthin with infinite qualities is the conqueror of sansāra, is the jina, and he serves is the ideal to be aimed at by all persons who desire to escape from the cycle of births and deaths characteristic of sarnsära.
Besides the siddha-paramesthin, Jainism recognizes the arhatparamesthin, who represents a lower stage in liberation than the siddha-paramesthin. Nevertheless, in some respects, the stage of arhat should be considered important from the human point of view, because it is in this stage of Arhathood that the arhat or firthankara reveals, for the benefit of the world, the path to salvation and all the various Āgamas or scriptures describing such a path.
According to Jaina tradition, the scriptures embodying the knowledge of the ultimate Reality are periodically revealed for the benefit of mankind by the firthankaras or the arhats, whose status corresponds to that of the founders of various other religions, or to the conception of the avatāras. Born with the privilege of becoming the lord of religion, through the adoption of yoga practice or tapas, after destroying the most powerful of kārmic bondages, the firthankara attains omniscience in this world. He becomes