Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 413

SEVENTH CHAPTER Various leaders of thought, their philosophies & religious systems mentioned and described in the Bhs.
FIRST SECTION.
Śramaņa-Nirgrantha-Dharma The objectives of human life are Dharma (virtue), Artha (wealth or material possession), Kāma (pleasure or gratification of desires) and Moksa (spiritual liberation). In a real sense they can be reduced to two objectives, viz. Kāma and Moksa (pleasure and spiritual liberation), because Artha (wealth) is the means of Kāma (pleasure) for its gratification, while Dharma (virtue) is the way to Moksa (liberation).
These aims of life distinguish two types of men, viz. extroverts and introverts--the first one looks to the pleasure of the physical world, while the second looks into the inside of the world for searching out something tangible in life and nature. So Kāma (pleasure) which is the gratification of desires creates new desires, but Dharma (virtue) is a means to achieve the goal of human life, i. e. liberation (Moksa) from all bondages. From this point of view philosophy is religion.
So religion constitutes a sphere of individual and collective existences in which human activities are devoted to the two-fold pursuits, viz. Dharma (virtue) and Moksa (liberation), i. e. perfection of conduct and perfection of personality, as the auspicious and pure conduct is guided by the auspicious and pure thoughtactivity. Human mind searches out something universal which can be attained only by supersensuous consciousness. It is this su persensuous consciousness which reigos supreme as the reali. zing vision of the universal reality as the subject-matter of religion. The reaction of human mind to such a reality absorbs his whole self-entity with a feeling of devotion for the personal deity and intellectual faith in the divine universal reality and