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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
S'aivism and s'āktism
615
Supreme Self. S'iva or Mahes'vara is characterised by His sentience, absence of limitations, knowledge free from dependence on any adjuncts, independence, blissfulness.' Everything, therefore, shines with the light of the Self or S'iva. Similarly, S'iva is omnipotent and possesses infinite power and He creates the world only with His will.?
The soul is, in essence, of the nature of God S'iva; the only thing is that their identity is not recognised. The jiva remains unconscious of the omniscience, omnipotence, and of the all-blissful nature of the Supreme Self. The Pratyabhijñā holds that the soul can become the Self only when and only if it recognises its original identity with the Self. The jiva can regain its lost divine nature by simply recognising (pratyabhijñā-safa ) that it itself is nothing else but the Self. This is possible by two means, i.e., by externally knowing the divine attributes of God S'iva and developing love for Him, and internally by developing the consciousness that -- I am the God, Himself. The difference between the two stages is like that of a woman who is enamoured with a man whose fine qualities are described to her and she becomes restless to meet him in the first stage, and in the next when she is shown the man himself for whom she feels intense love she meets him and enters into union with him. Similarly, here it is necessary to recognise the Lord Siva, as the essential nature of the jiva, is absolutely necessary for the attainment of liberation,
1 Sarvadars'anasangraha, p. 196.
2 Ibid. p. 197. • 3 Ibid. p. 200.
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