ABC Of Jainism: 07 The Spiritual Success

Ma, what is the ultimate purpose of human life?

Mother

The ultimate purpose of our lives is spiritual upliftment or salvation.

Daughter

Ma, how does one achieve this spiritual success?

Mother

Every one can attain spiritual upliftment by faith and knowledge of Jīva-Ajīva and all seven Tattvas as preached by Jina. The seven Tattvas are Jīva (soul), Ajīva (non­living entities), Aśrava (inflow of karma in to the soul), Bandha (bondage of karma with the soul), Samvara (Stoppage of inflow of karma in to the soul), Nirjarā (gradual disintegration of karma from soul) and Mokṣa (soul becomes free from all karmas). These seven Tattvas are instrumental in the journey of the soul from impure state to the pure state.

Daughter

What are the obstacles in this path?

Mother

Inflow and bondage of karmic matter are the obstacles in the path of success. The soul of living beings receives the karma particles in every day life through the constant action of mind, speech and body. The inflow and bondage of karmic particles lead to misery and sufferings. So, after knowing them well, we should give them up.

Daughter

Ma, so what is the solution?

Mother

Stoppage of inflow of karmas and gradual disintegration of accumulated karmic matter lead us to liberation. We should therefore practice them. The need for this two fold action of samvara and nirjarā provide the basis of Jaina religious practices. These are means to achieve spiritual success, Libration or mokṣa.
My child, we can further explain this by an example. Imagine a person who wants to cross the river in his boat. He starts rowing and he notices that through few holes in the boat, water starts entering his boat. It makes difficult for him to move further. He plugs the holes and manages to stop the inflow of water in to his boat but this is not enough as the boat has still lot of water which got collected earlier. With the help of a little vessel, he gets rid of the accumulated water and by subsequent rowing, crosses the river.
In the same manner, a soul desirous of freedom from worldly sufferings and cycles of births and rebirths purifies itself and attains liberation (mokṣa), In the above example, human life is like the boat. The holes in the boat are our ignorance of seven tattvas because of which the karmic matter inflows in to the soul (aśrava) and karmas get accumulated (bandha). The process of sealing by right conduct is stoppage of new karmas (Samvara) and gradual removal of the accumulated water in the boat refers to the gradual disintegration of the accumulated karmic particles (nirjarā); which ultimately leads to liberation (mokṣa), like crossing the river.