जिनत्व

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The ultimate end, and purpose of all life and activity is to realize the free and blissful state of our true being. True philosophy in Jainism should result in removing all bondages (karmas) in the process of purifying of the soul.

It conceives the human body as a chariot on which the soul rides towards liberation. The conduct of the present life should be aimed to attain total freedom from which there is no return to the birth and death cycle. Every soul can attain godhood, i.e., supreme spiritual individuality by realizing its intrinsic purity and perfection.

An individual, in his conduct can be guided by the examples of five benevolent personalities (panch parameshthi). They are:

supreme human beings (arihantas)
pure or perfect souls (siddhas)
master teachers (acharyas)
scholarly monks (upadhyayas)
ascetics (sadhus)
Arihantas are human beings who have attained keval-jnana, and realized perfect vision, knowledge, power, and bliss. They have preached the religion principles, philosophy of life, and the path of liberation. At the end of their human life they will be totally liberated and will become siddhas.

Siddhas are souls that are completely free from karmic bondage and have attained liberation. Both arihantas and siddhas are the Gods(Fords) of Jain religions.

right perception (samyak darsana)
right knowledge (samyak jnana)
right conduct (samyak charitrya)

This resolves into taking the five vows of an ascetic or house-holder.

Ahimsa - Non-violence
Satya - Truth
Achaurya - Non-stealing
Brahmacharya - Chastity
Aparigraha - Non-possession/Non-attachment
The nine tattvas, or principles, are the single most important subject of Jain philosophy. It deals with the karma theory of Jainism, which provides the basis for the path of liberation. Without the proper knowledge of this subject, a person can not progress spiritually. The true faith and understanding of this subject brings about right faith (samyak-darshana), right knowledge (samyak-jnana), and right conduct in an individual.


Jiva - soul or living being (Consciousness)
Ajiva - non-living substances
Asrava - cause of the influx of karma
Bandh - bondage of karma
*Punya - virtue
*Papa - sin
Samvara - arrest of the influx of karma
Nirjara - exhaustion of the accumulated karma
Moksha - total liberation from karma


9. Moksha - Moksha is the liberation of the living being (soul) after complete exhaustion or elimination of all karmas. A liberated soul regains totally its original attributes of perfect knowledge, vision, power, and bliss. It climbs to the top of Lokakas and remains there forever in its blissful and unconditional existence. It never returns again into the cycles of birth, life, and death. This state of the soul is the liberated or perfect state, and this is called "Nirvana."