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EQUIVALENT VIEWS ABOUT ULTIMATE REALITY
IN JAINISM AND HINDUISM
Dr. Premsuman Jain
The main aim of the religions of India is to liberate one's soul for ever from the sorrows of life. Therefore they can be seen to make efforts for the realisation of summum bonum. One can experience happiness in the state of full freedom and in going from the sphere of ignorance to the sphere of knowledge. Therefore, by self-perception the Indian philosophers try to inspire us to know about the ultimate reality, which is absolutely free from Karmic bondages and in which there is absence of all kinds of sorrow. In Jainism and other Indian religions such kind of supreme reality has been described by different names. Among these names Moksa (salvation), Nirvāna, (the final result of the extinction of desire), Paramātmā (the supreme soul), Brahma (the transcendental reality) are more popular. In order to know the equivalent views about the ultimate reality in Jainism and Hinduism, it is essential to think about the nature of Atmā (soul or self), Moksa (salvation) and Paramātmā (Supreme soul). The key to know all universe through the reality of soul is given in the ancient scriptures.1 Who knows the soul is the knower of all universe ? The knowledge of the reality of being and non-being is the state of liberation and liberated soul is known as ultimate reality, supreme soul and Brahma (the unitary Absolute postulated by Vedānta) etc.
The concept of the supreme element has been developed as an ideal of moral and spiritual life. Nearly in all religions of India the importance of the Supreme Deity has been recognised. Inspite of the differences in its names, the nature of the 'Supreme Deity' is more or less the same. Therefore, one Jaina poet says that one who is worshipped by Saivas as 'Sivā', called 'Brahma' by Vedāntists, 'Buddha' by the Buddhists, 'Kartā' by the Naiyāyikas, Arhant' by the followers of Jainism and ‘Karma' by the Mimānsakas who is also known as the lord of the universe & 'Hari' should bestow on us the desired results. Ācārya Abhinavagupta has expressed the same view. According to him differences of opinion exist among the Indian philosophers about the names of supreme being but there is no difference about its main characteristics. In other scriptures of Hinduism the same view has been expressed. Majority of the Indian philosophers admit that real know
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