1.9. Soul, Equality and Originality

The sheer beauty of Jain philosophy lies in equality, here equality is not man made but natural.

As the journey belongs to the soul, it does not matter in which body it is accommodated, if it had sown the seeds of spiritual development, it is bound to achieve so.

‘Creatures can fast, take vows, renounce killing, and in this way accomplish resurrection in paradise, or as humans. That the creature soul blends in a similar philosophical ether as that of the human implies that one soul is equivalent to all spirits, for the Jain. Furthermore, this being along these lines, to submit savagery to one is to submit brutality to oneself. This "Do Unto Others" adage characterizes the fullest hover of the Jain transmigration of spirits and passes on the preeminent bliss that can be gathered through all-inclusive empathy.’^[1]

Some obvious questions bother every mind; for example: ‘if there is God, he is one and same for all beings? If I possess a soul, that must be similar to the soul in any other animate being? If I am bound to get fruits of my karma, so does each being? Studying religious philosophy solves these queries, rest is up to the seeker how one implies it into one’s logic and understand and search for the same.

Almost everyone in the non-Jain community think of Jainism as an orthodox religion, they do not think of it, at all, as a philosophy;where even a person who eats potato is considered a sinner. But when one dives a bit deeper into its understanding, without being biased, one fills with wonderment at the freedom it provides, the way this philosophy lays down the truth in front of one, one finds oneself unable to not to get stunned. It conveys, each of us is free at our own will to do whatever seems right, there is neither hurry nor any outer influence; go at your own pace, understand everything using best of your rational faculty and find your own truth. If you have committed something wrong and your conscience is awakened now and is ready to repent, you can get back to your originality anytime.

Michael Tobias beautifully writes in his book,

‘However he got the opportunity to be who he is, whatever brutality he may have submitted before, none of it is important now; The real soul can be reacquired. It has left follows in the consciousness. What's more, when you know about that, and demonstration as needs be, at that point you are a Jain. You can wipe the slate clean, repudiate the huge molasses of fleeting attachments and desires, and start for this minute, upon a street of absolute affirmation (astikya).’^[2]

‘The spirit of a bug has indistinguishable eternal rights and potential for edification as any human. The spirit needn't have anything to do with the pudgala-skandha (the total of issue) wherein it is contained. Soul will be soul. Ethereal, uncapturable, similar to the Tao. Or on the other hand like a sparkle, with equivalent capacity to light a flame or an entire timberland.’^[3]

When a seeker proceeds on the path of truth, his mind often gets boggled at the vastness of network of the universe and how it works, but step by step even the biggest puzzles can be solved and so does the universe’. The nature is simplest, without any covering or pretentiousness, one who understands this, understands all. When we talk about equanimity, it is simply equanimity, no matter if the soul belongs to the body of an ant, a human or a deity and the more the soul is purer, the closer it is towards freedom, as simple as that.

Though attaining liberation is not a process performed in haste but when the purpose is clear and the path laid, even heavens do not attract the seeker as he knows it will only lengthens his journey.

‘Resurrection in paradise was viewed as backward, though a rebirth on earth, especially in human form, all the more intensely prepared the spirit for its real purpose.’^[4]

Being humans we are the ones capable of shedding karma, and to move ahead on the path of self-development and spiritual advancement.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Ibid. pp. 71

[2]:

Ibid. pp. 74

[3]:

Ibid. pp. 74

[4]:

Ibid. pp. 101