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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
634
Ātman and Moksa
things are unreal since they are evanescent. In reality, the Brahman is imperishable (avinās'i-3 farert) but it appears to be born and going to destruction simply due to Māyā (delusion); just as ripples seem to have been produced by a gust of wind on the surface of water which again becomes calm when the wind stops blowing.' Thus, the limited experience of pleasure and pain of the soul is produced by ignorance which is known as Māyā. But the real Self is eternal, all-pervading, free from birth and death, and indestructible by weapons; it cannot be drowned in the waters at the pralaya, nor can it be burnt, nor can a hurricane move it; it is eternal, immovable, all-pervading, immortal, and perfect.2 Jñanes'vara describes it further as that which cannot be known by inference and is imperceptible. The mind cannot grasp it; it is infinite, devoid of the three attributes, beginningless, unmodified, beyond every form, and manifested in all forms: such is that Supreme person (Purusottam). Man forgets this nature of his innermost Self and comes to grief by identifying his Self with any of his external adjuncts, which do not belong to the Self or Ātman. The pains, sufferings, and griefs of the jīva do not affect the Supreme Self which is the innermost Self of man." A blow given to a shadow does not cause a wound in the body. When a vessel full of water is upturned, the reflection of the sun, which was visible therein, is seen no longer, but
1 Jnanes'vari, II. 105, 106. 2 Ibid. II. 145, 146, 147. 3 Ibid. II. 148, 149, 150.
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