Page 121 - Wisdom Unfurled

path diligently just as the taste of a lump of sugar is had by each person by putting it on his own tongue. Buddha believed and taught that each man has to work out his release himself by perseverance, self-exertion and insight and not through prayers and petitions to a supreme being just as he (Buddha) himself attained to the state of enlightenment. It is also to be noted that Buddha taught that there is no permanent or enduring entity called soul or ‘I’ or self behind the ever changing psycho-physical processes making up man. As there is no God either postulated in Buddhism, self-realization or God- realization does not have any significance for the Buddhist. The word Buddha, meaning one who is enlightened or illumined by the wisdom about the nature and fact of suffering, its cause and the method by which it, namely, desire for and clinging to the things compounded can be got rid of for attaining the state of nirvana, informs the goal of the aspirant in Buddhism.
The Jain school talks of the state of release from the state of bondage after the destruction or elimination of karmic matter or pudgala accumulated over it through innumerable lives. It is the emancipation from births which is the desirable end to be achieved through austerities, penance and ceaseless adherence to the yamas and niyamas. Special emphasis is laid upon scrupulous following of the principle of ahimsa or non-injury in word, thought and deed to any being at any time or state of existence as the most superior form of moral discipline. The words Jina, meaning one who has conquered the senses and attachment to the world and Thirthankara, meaning one who is capable of helping others to cross over the ocean of samsara, having done so himself, clearly indicate the goal set in Jainism.
Christianity and Islam
The other major religions of the world, namely, the Christian and the Islamic paths do not have the goal of realization as set in the Upanishadic tradition at all. There is no higher conception as to the real destiny of the soul in both these religions.
In particular we find amongst the followers in Christianity the belief that all their sins have been atoned for by the suffering of Jesus Christ, thus absolving them of any accountability to their actions and impressions formed by their own volition and the need to undergo the bhog for getting rid of the effects of their own actions. This violates the universal principle of causality as expressed in the law of karma upheld in the ancient tradition. On the Day of Judgment, the good Christian is resurrected and enters Paradise where he is blessed with all the joys of heaven whereas those who have trodden the path of evil handing themselves over to Satan so to speak go to the purgatory and are damned for ever.
It is not held however in Islam that Prophet Mohammed has atoned for all the