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260
The Unknown Pilgrims
we must make an important observation. When we speak of the Supreme Reality, this Reality is viewed from a spiritual point of view and as the goal set before every living being. Each one, according to his own degree of knowledge and awareness, is on the way towards the plenitude of his ätman, liberated from all else. The ascetic life, because of the detachment it demands, helps towards a progressive purification of both body and spirit. The greater his renunciation, the closer the ascetic gets to his chosen goal: the Realisation of his own ǎtman in pure consciousness of being, in perfect and undifferentiated unity with this same ātman.
The atman, according to Jaina doctrine, is not the one and only Reality in the Vedantic meaning of the word. We shall see, as we study the doctrine, that reality that which is that is also termed substance, includes jivas or ātmans, living substances and also ajivas, non-living substances. There is here a dualist system. However, among the substances, only those that are living enjoy, in different degrees, consciousness of being and can thus liberate themselves. Thus, although reality as such is dualist, the Supreme Reality for each living being is clearly the atman (his own atman) which is absolutely pure in essence but tarnished through its association with matter, which is non-living substance. Since we are endeavouring here to follow the path of the ascetics, each time we mention the Supreme or even Unique Reality we are referring to that (individual) reality towards the attainment of which each ascetic must bend his every effort.
The Omniscient, the Wise, the Knower, that is, the atman which is detached, purified from all that is not its own nature, in which the functionings of the mind and of speech and body diminish and then disappear completely, so that only the vital function of breathing remains, the atman is then the kevalin or omniscient one who knows all things, the supremely wise, the knower who himself knows himself fully and completely.
Ascetics, absorbed in the atman, reach nirvana, this, then, is the ascetics' goal, total absorption in their atman, for this and this alone is the aim of ascetic practice. The rules of life, vows, the daily rite, rituals, expiations, austerities and the practice of mental concentration are simply means contributing to the purification of the atman. Those
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