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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
750
Ātmap and Mokşa
from the contemplation of God. He says "The more you come to love God, the less you will be inclined to perform action."
There are four kinds of jivas or souls according to their respective conditions although they are the same in their ultimate nature. The four kinds of jīvas are Baddha or bound, Mumuksu or struggling for liberation, Mukta or emancipated, and Nityamukta or ever-free.? A devotee may continue in the worldly life as long as the effects of his past actions whose resultant is the body, are fully exhausted. However, he can fully experience the joy and peace of the Divine mentally. Such men may live like Jivanmuktas who continue to live in the world even after attaining jñāna; they are like men living in glass-houses; they can see inside the house and outside the house at the same time, while others as if live in houses with walls of mud.4 He further describes the emancipated soul in the worldly existence as one who lives in the world like the diver-bird. lt dives into water, but the water does not wet its plumage; the few drops of water which may possibly stick to its body are easily shaken off when it once flaps its wings. Thus, he does not outdo the possibility of such emancipated souls living in the world,
1 Nikhilananda Swami (Tr.): The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 35.
2 Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna, 3534. 3 Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, 805.
4 Nikhilananda Swami (Tr.): The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 776.
Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna, 953.
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