Studies in Jainism

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

Page 67

58
STUDIES IN JAINISM
which may be a source of inconvenience and trouble to the ordinary man ceases to be such in the case of a yogin. For, in his case, the body derives its strength and vitality from the inner strength and vitality of the Spirit. To one who carries in himself the universal panacea, there can be neither disease nor decay. This conquest of the environment, including his own body, carries him through the threshold of a newer world, where he enjoys a happiness far surpassing the pleasures of the senses, and he secures the peace that passeth understanding. The ordinary conventions which are made so much of by the man of the world are completely discarded by the superman, the yogin. Hence his words and actions become unintelligible to the people at large. He has secured the citizenship of the world of reality, whereas they are still living in the realm of shadows.
MESSAGE OF JAINISM The pleasures of a deva, however great they be, must end some day. Even Devendra, the king of the gods, with all his greatness, can never enter the kingdom of God, if by the latter is meant that spiritual liberation implied by the term mokşa. He must become a man before he can think of Heaven. For man forms the way in' for that paradise wherein is situated the temple of spiritual freedom. This embodies an important truth, viz. that man's heritage as man is far superior to any other riches in the world. It is this wonderful spiritual heritage of man that Naciketas would have from the lord of Death, in preference to the overlordship of the three worlds offered to him. It is this heritage again that Maitreyi preferred to all the accumulated wealth which was offered by her husband, Yājñavalkya. Again, it is to inherit this Kingdom that prince Siddhartha cast away his father's kingdom as worthless and put on the mendicant's robe, in preference to the royal crown. This is the message of Jainism to mankind. 'Be a man first and last, for the Kingdom of God belongs to the son of Man'. It is this same truth that is proclaimed in unmistakable terms by the Upanişadic text Tat tuam asi' (Thou art That).