________________
Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
770
Atman and Mokşa
ruled by passions. It is weak and finite in all respects. The Carvakas do not believe in the soul, for them and for the Buddhists no problem remains; however, Mahayana Buddhism believes in the existence of the Dharmakaya which acts as the source, support, and end of all ideas and other mental states. It is the spirit that governs all the beings from within and acts as the ideal of perfection of knowledge, purity, and love. But it is more like God. Jainism admits the distinction between the pure Self and the empirical soul. The soul in its pure and transcendental form is infinite, all-pervasive, characterized by perfect knowledge, perfect happiness and perfect power. It is free from Karma-matter and enjoys in the highest degree the supersensuous happiness. The soul in the samsăra or in empirical life is governed by ignorance, and is besmeared with the Karmicmatter. It is fallible and it transmigrates in accordance with its Karmas. In saṁsāra it has to reap the sweet or bitter fruits of its actions. The NyāyaVais'esika systems also admit such a difference and they identify the Supreme Self with God who is perfect, pervasive, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. The worldly soul is all-pervading, substratum of knowledge, and possesses actual knowledge when connected with the body, sense-organs and manas. In Mokṣa it loses all consciousness. It, transmigrates and is like the soul as in other systems in other respects. The Samkhya System admits no distinction of the soul. According to it, there is one kind of soul (Purusa); all are constituted of pure consciousness, are eternal, all-pervading, immutable and self
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
For Private And Personal
