Acharya Mahashraman
Jain philosophy accepts the nine real elements. Acharya Umaswati, one of the greatest Acharyas in Jain tradition, has described seven real elements in his book Tattvarthsutra. Though there is no significant difference between the number seven and nine. If Punya (merit) and Pap (demerit) independently counted then these are nine in number otherwise seven. In fact, there are two elements in the universe -Jiva (living) and Ajiva (non-living). These two elements can be extended up to seven, nine or hundreds in numbers. The nine elements are: Jiva, Ajiva, Punya, Pap, Ashrav (Influx), Samvar (Inhibition), Nirjara (Eradication), Bandh (Bondage), and Moksha (Salvation). Out of them eight can be clubbed in four pairs and in each pair the elements are contradictory to each other. As an illustration, Jiva is contrary to Ajiva, Punya is in contrary to Pap, Ashrav is in contrary to Samvar and Moksha is in contrary to Bandh.
The first element out of nine is Jiva.'Chaitanyalakshano jivah'- The one who has consciousness, the ability to know and capacity to experience, is Jiva. In this universe, the number of souls is not just one or two, but is infinite. Primarily, the souls have two categories: 1. Siddha (liberated) and 2. Samsari (mundane). Liberated souls are free from the cycle of birth and death and stay in the state of moksha. They have neither a body nor speech nor mind. They are in supreme bliss having infinite knowledge and energy.
Jain philosophy does not believe in the concept of reincarnation of God as described in Gita in the following verse:
Yada-yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati bharatah abhutthanamadharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham paritranay sadhunam vinashay cha dushkritam dharma-sansthapanarthay sambhavami yuge-yuge
Jain philosophy believes that the supreme or pure soul never takes birth in this world. Through spiritual practices, a human being can become God but God can never come into the form of a human. Jainism denies the concept of reincarnation. Through sadhana and fasting a man can elevate his life and can become supreme soul also. Any human being can become liberated or supreme soul if he has that potentiality (bhavyata) and ability. A woman can attain the state of the emancipation; a man can also become emancipated. A man following the Jain asceticism can become emancipated and even a man following the asceticism of other than Jainism can also get emancipated.
Another class of souls are mundane, 'sansarati iti sansari'-it means the one who keeps on moving and takes one birth after the next, is worldly soul. After all, why does a soul transmigrate in this world? Dasvaikalika Sutra describes it as:
Till the soul has anger, ego, deceit and greed - these passions keep forcing the soul to take the next birth. The soul gets freedom from cycle of birth as soon as the passions get eradicated. The soul attains the state of the supreme soul forever.
Each soul in the universe is eternal. It never dies. Its existence stays forever. It just keeps changing the body. Gita says:
vasansi jirnani yatha vihaya navani grihnati naroparani tatha sharirani vihaya jirna nyanyani samyati navani dehi
As a person leaving the old outfits wears the new one, similarly the soul after departing from one body accepts the other. The soul never gets destroyed. The question is if the soul is eternal then can it be visible? Ontology says - soul is intangible. It is neither of red, black, yellow, white or green. It has neither colour nor look.
Once, a monk visited a village. He delivered a long discourse on 'The concept of soul' giving the evidence from the scriptures. One man, who considered himself an intelligent, said, "O Mahatma! you voiced your discourse. You have put your great effort. We are very grateful to you. But, even after listening to so much, I do not believe in the existence of the soul. I believe in atheist philosophy of Charvak, whose principle is:
yavajjjivet sukham jivet, tavat vaishayikam sukham bhasmibhutasya dehasya punaragamanam kutah
It means, till you are alive, live happily. Enjoy the materialistic things. There is no rebirth after this life. Everything is in this life only. Still, I have no persistence. If you show me the soul in your hand, I will accept its existence." The monk thought, 'I should make him understand logically' Continuing his talk he said - 'O Young boy! Have you ever seen any dream?'
Young man said, 'Oh yes! Yesterday night I saw a beautiful dream. I saw the election was taking place for Member of Parliament and I won. I became the prime minister. Thereafter, on August 15,1 addressed the public at Red Fort (Lai Qila). I have seen everything in the dream.' Monk said - 'O man! How can I believe that you have visualised this dream. If you show me the dream in your hand, I can believe in your dream.'
Young man- 'Dream can be seen or enjoyed in sleep only'.
Monk - 'If you are unable to show me your dream in hand then how can I show you the intangible soul in hand.'
The young man got the lesson.
A man with a conscience should think that he must practice righteousness no matter soul exists or not. He should think to live a life of moral excellence. The following hymn in Sanskrit motivates us:
sandigdhepi pare loke, tyajyamevaśhubham budhaih yadi nasti tatah kim syat, asti chennasti ko hatah.
i.e. A wise man should not do any vicious act even after having doubt in the next life. If there is no next life then what's harm in being virtuous. On the other hand, if there is next life then what will happen to the people doing immoral acts?
Acharya Dalgani has been a great splendid acharya in our religious order. In Bhuvana, Mr. Bacchraj Singhi, who was minister of Jodhpur, asked Dalgani - 'Sometimes I worry seeing your hard rules and tough life. If my belief of eating, drinking and be merry happens to be true then your endurance of hardships will go in vain.' Dalgani without denial asked counter question - 'Will there be more harm than what you said?' Mr. Singhi replied - 'What can be more?' Dalgani said again- 'If my faith is right then what?' Mr. Singhi replied with a laugh -'People like me will suffer so much that even earth cannot bear it.'
Irrespective of the existence of another world man should walk on the path of virtues. Moksha is invisible to us. The joy of heaven is also beyond us, but present is before us. Man should follow morality to make the present life better and happy, and to keep the society healthy. As the Sanskrit literature describes the same: swargsukhani parokshanyatyantaparokshameva mokshasukham pratyaksham prashamsukham na parvasham na cha vyayapraptam
The essence of this verse is, the pleasure of heaven and joy of moksha are beyond our reach. The inner joy of the self is before us which cannot be destroyed.
Jain philosophy believes in solipsism. Spiritual practice is required to experience the self, realize the self and to perceive the soul. The practice is to be free from attachment and aversion. The practice which can pacify attachment and aversion are the best means may it be swadhyaya, Meditation, anupreksha or any other. Man should develop the state of being only observer (gyata-drashta). He should learn to observe any incident without the feeling of attachment and aversion. Problems may come into the life. Coming of problem and being miserable because of the problem are two different things. Great personalities can also come across the problems. The life of Gurudev Tulsi is a great example of coming across many problems but he with his higher consciousness and strong morale could figure out solution of the problems by staying uninfluenced. Great souls are capable, have high spirit and solve the problems without suffering. People practicing spirituality should put their effort in observing the problems and figure out the solution instead of suffering. Then only he can make progress in the field of spirituality.
An atheist also lives in the society and interacts with people. He may come across problems. He can make himself free from suffering by simply observing the problems and find solutions without influencing himself. To make his present life happy he needs to avoid the emotions, actions and behaviour which cause misery and follow the moral values. Therefore, being ethical is a necessity for a happy life of any human being.
