The Soul-Essence

...devoted love is owed to this reinforcement of a pure kind of delusion, which is actually a form of Karmic matter. Similarly, this applies to art. An artist’s unity with an all-absorbing goal—in painting, poetry, music original: "Melody", sculpture, or architecture—is merely a product of matter. This matter is subtle, pure, and non-harming, but it is still matter. It soils the soul and stands between it and full self-realization.

In the same way, religious practices, worship, and the postures of asceticism original: "ascetisim" are all "ladders" to spirituality, yet they are material and born of matter. They fall into the category of "non-soul" original: "ajiva". Obviously, these things are not the soul in its total fullness or perfect purity. They are tools to help the soul achieve self-realization, but they are not the soul itself. Just as inflatable life belts original: "pneumatic belts" or upturned floating pitchers traditional clay pots used as flotation aids are aids for a swimmer in water but are not the swimmer, the practices of religion—even the highest, sincerest, and most earnest pursuit of right belief, right knowledge, and right conduct—are all worldly matters.

They have no place in the realm of pure souls. They are material, worldly, and exist only on this side of liberation original: "cis-liberation". As long as the soul is fascinated by, dependent upon, or even associated with any of them, its connection with matter, Karma, and the cycle of rebirth original: "Samsara" is not severed. The worldly soul does not achieve the dignity and status of true selfhood—of being its own pure self, a soul liberated and pure forever.

Modern science has begun to perceive the existence of millions of atoms in the head of a pin, revolving in a terrifyingly constant fashion. This is a great help in understanding Jainism. Jainism proposes the existence of an infinity of matter—that is, infinite atoms and molecules. If a pinhead contains millions of atoms, how many atoms must there be in a hut, a palace, a street, or a city? How many atoms must there be in a whole country or continent, or in an ocean? How many are in our Earth, the Moon, or the Sun? How many in our solar system, or in all the solar systems in the starry sky? How many are in the whole universe? Certainly, they are infinite.

Again, it is clear that a pinhead has no life, if by "life" we mean a manifestation of the soul, consciousness, or attention through the five senses, respiration, and so on. The presence of millions of atoms in a pinhead—or in a speck of dirt on paper, a pen, or a chair—does not prove that the pin, paper, pen, or chair is alive or possesses a soul. The countless movements of matter and its infinite variations and transformations do not destroy the eternal...