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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
704
Atman and Mokpa
Caitanya also did not go much out of the way and did not adopt unnatural and artificial methods to effect his spiritual realisation of the Lord Kệsņa. Like other Vaisnava Saints, Caitanya also held that the royal and the easiest way to attain deliverance from the evils of the worldly life of man is that of devotion (bhakti) and unshakable faith in the Lord Kịşņa.
Bhandarkar, on the contrary, points out the philosophical position of Caitanya differently and likens him to Nimbärka. As he says the Supreme Self (Paramātman) is boundless and is full of intelligence itself. The individual soul is an atom having intelligence. They are necessarily connected together and this connection can never be destroyed. Kțsņa is the support (Asraya ) and jiva rests on him (Asrita). The relation between the two is one of identity as well as of difference. Thus, the Vedāntic theory of Caitanya's system is similar to that of Nimbārka. As the bee is distinct from the honey and the bee hovers about it, and when it drinks it, is full of it, i.e., is one with it, so the individual soul is at first distinct from the Supreme Self, seeks the Supreme Self consistently and continuously, and when through love it is full of the Supreme Self, it becomes unconscious of its individual existence, and becomes, as it were, absorbed in Him. Herein is described the ecstatic condition in which the individual soul becomes one with God, though they are really distinct. Kțspa is the lord of the power of delusion or ignorance (Māyā), and Jiva is the slave of it. When the latter cuts off its shackles, he distinctly sees its
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