From April 1991 Issue:

Innocent Observation

Man, right from his birth, sees colors and hears sounds. He touches objects, tastes a variety of foods and drinks, and senses various scents. Through his senses, he learns about mountains, trees, houses, hills of earth and rocks. He looks up towards the sun, moon and stars in the sky. Thus he constructs a realistic concept of the world. He explores the environment from which he obtains food, water, air that sustain life. He feels like the king of his real world. He fulfills his desires from the real world. This is the first dimension of man's consciousness.

Self-centered Dreams

Gradually, man's consciousness takes a new turn. He learns that there are other human beings who laugh and cry, who experience happiness and sorrow, who express their thoughts and feelings, and who act like himself. As man gets accustomed to using the things around him, he begins to exploit other people to fulfill his own desires and ambitions. He wishes that others should live to subserve him. Other individuals too have these tendencies. Consequently, all men have the ambition to increase their influence and power. He who succeeds in securing power uses other people to further his goals. This state of man is extremely stressful. Most people go through this stressful phase in various facets of life. Undoubtedly, man can not endure such stress for long. Sometimes, due to stress, he makes mistakes and fails in his endeavors.

From The Physical World To The Realm Of Human Values

Next come the moments of rethinking. Man starts thinking over human nature in depth. Consequently, a sense of respect for all men arises. He begins to promote equality of all men and freedom of each individual. Now, rather than using others for egoism, man acquires a desire to live for others. Instead of exploitation, he begins to think progress. Instead of self-promotion, he gets involved in the uplift of all. In place of getting help, he places importance on serving others. Such tendencies relieve his tension and he becomes a special person. An exceptional realization arises. This is the realization of values. Living in the physical world, he dreams of the realm of human values. He becomes engaged in search of human values. He lives for those values and dedicates his life to promoting them in society. This is the second (most significant) dimension of man's consciousness.

External And Internal Facets

It should be understood that value-oriented life has two facets: an external facet and an internal facet. As far as society is concerned, the external facet is apparently important. The external facet is manifested through various activities. These activities are essential in the fields of cooperation, change and development. These activities are germane during conflicts as well as harmony. They are seen through the medium of words and deeds. Teachers and administrators, managers and workers, orators and writers, laborers and masters, rich and poor, all operate in society through words and deeds. A healthy society provides an ethical foundation for these activities. Society judges whether an activity is proper or improper by its external features (words and deeds). An act of violence, stealing, hoarding, adultery or deception is always deemed undesirable. In all spheres of life, nonviolence and forthrightness are deemed worthy.

We should remember that intentions, feelings and thoughts that prompt noble actions are extremely important, though others can only notice speech and physical acts. A householder and a monk can play their respective roles in society by exhibiting proper values externally while leading life without internal values. Some people fulfill various needs of society by their authority, wealth, knowledge, expertise, position and judgement. In the background, if they indulge in misdeeds or if their character does not measure up to their position, people may disregard these deficiencies in view of their usefulness and influence. Such people exploit society in a variety of ways because of their particular power. If some individuals oppose them, others protect them for their own interests. Further, their supporters justify their misconducts by citing examples of other similar individuals. Such individuals practice morals and a code of ethics superficially on account of pressures from society. They follow the external value system for fear of disgrace, punishment and insult.

Spiritual Path

The scriptures, PARAMAATMA PRAKASH and YOGASAAR are intended to build a society whose internal facet possesses values as intense as its external facet. It presents views of a society in which individuals follow the code of ethics due to genuine self-motivation and not because of social pressure, and the desire to conduct a valueless life in secret becomes non-existent. The line that is drawn by unscrupulous individuals between personal conduct and social life should be wiped out.

An individual learns some rules of conduct, etiquette and formalities from society. Further, he makes a place for himself to earn a livelihood. (A stage comes) when the individual wishes to attain a life that is his own and that is free from external pressure. Tired of shallow formalities, he turns towards reality. Realizing that life is transient, he yearns for a life of inner contentment. Some other individuals, on the basis of their own thought-process, realize the limits of certain vain rules of society and of forced morality. These individuals also turn towards the self and understand the realities of life. PARAMAATMA PRAKASH and YOGASAAR (like other Jain scriptures) show a path devoid of artifice and social pressure. They present glimpses of a life full of simplicity and close to reality.

Footnotes:

1. Condensed from the Preface of PARAMAATMA PRAKASH VA YOGASAAR CHAYANIKA, published by Prakrit Bharati Academy, Jaipur, 1988. Back up

2. Professor of Philosophy (retired), Sukhadia University, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. Back up

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