Mahavira taught that the soul can be purified by destroying hatred and attachment. We are in control of our own destiny and can attain liberation. While he believed that there is no superior being or god who controls our fate, the soul follows the cycle of birth, death and rebirth until it reaches liberation.What is the purpose of this universe? Why is it here? Why am I here? Is it possible to liberate the soul? There is no enemy outside your soul. The real enemies live inside you—anger, pride, greed, attachment and hatred.
Every soul is omniscient and blissful from within. The bliss does not come from outside. There is no separate existence of God. Everybody can attain Godhood by making an effort to liberate the soul. The soul comes alone and goes alone. Nobody accompanies it and nobody becomes its mate. Every soul is independent. No soul depends on another. The soul must recognise its true self.
We shape our future by our own deeds. Good acts lift the soul to great heights, while bad deeds cause it to slide into despair.Your destiny is in your hands. No imaginary or external power can help you. Every living being wants to live and be happy. Do not hurt or kill other living beings. Rather, liberate your trapped soul. One who is free of deceit is pure. Only the pure attain liberation, like a fire sprinkled with ghee. Religion is the pond; celibacy is its sacred shrine.
It is tranquil, with the serenity of the soul. Having purified myself there, I become pure, clean, cool and devoid of impurity. Once we know that ‘I’ am not my physical body but a soul trapped within this body, we truly begin the path to freedom. Such freedom is bliss!Misguided by the idea that the physical body is ‘Me’, we carry the burden of the body and everything we possess. We cannot experience freedom as long as we carry this burden. True freedom is freedom from this burden. We believe wrongly that someone else controls our destiny and makes us happy or unhappy.
We alone, not some imaginary supreme power, are responsible for our destinies. We create our own misfortune and become entangled in it; we remain trapped within the painful cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Only we have the power to release ourselves from sorrow through our own efforts. Awareness of this power is self-realisation.
When we realise this freedom, we understand the difference between the soul and its bondages. Requesting favours from a supreme power through sacrificial offerings or chanting mantras is useless. The power to liberate your soul rests within you. The differences in their karmic bondages cause souls to take different births. They are all capable of attaining liberation, and must therefore be equally respected and revered. The soul is eternal. Neither was it created nor can it be destroyed. Every soul is independent and creates its own destiny.
Our soul is imprisoned in our bodies because of our karmas. It is struggling to be free. A living body is not merely flesh and bone; it is also the abode of the soul. The soul has the potential for perfect perception, perfect knowledge, perfect power and perfect bliss. The soul brings both happiness and sorrow. It is its own friend when it treads the path of righteousness, and is its own enemy when it treads the forbidden path. There is no difference between the soul of an elephant and that of an ant. Through knowledge, the soul comprehends itself as well as the external world. This attribute of knowledge is exclusive to the soul.
The soul is the abode of all virtues, best among the substances and supreme among all realities. Souls are of three kinds—external, internal and supreme. The external soul is that which is led by the senses. The internal soul is that which knows itself to be different from the body. The supreme soul is that which has annihilated the karmas and attained liberation. The pure soul is formless and free from the activities of mind, body and speech. It is free from conflict, detached, dispassionate, unblemished, and free from delusion and fear. The jiva or soul is conscious, eternal, immortal, formless and separate from the body.
It is the doer and the enjoyer of its actions. The ajiva or non-soul does not know either pleasure or pain, cannot identify good and bad. The soul is formless and invisible to the senses, but it is eternal. Attachment causes bondage, which is the cause of worldly existence. Karmas bind the soul. A liberated soul is free from attachments. By conquering all attachments, one crosses the ocean of worldly existence.Excerpted from ‘Live and Let Others Live’: Life Lessons from Mahavira, edited by Nanditha Krishna; publisher: Aleph Book Company