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"Some wise person, who is desirous of obtaining what is good for him and who is capable of attaining liberation in a short time, approaches a lonely and delightful hermitage capable of affording peace of mind to the potential souls. There he sees the preceptor, seated in the midst of the congregation of monks as the embodiment of the path to liberation, as it were indicating the path by his very form even without uttering words. He comes before this great passionless saint, skilled in reasoning and in the scriptures, who is worthy of veneration by noble persons and whose chief task is to preach what is good to all living beings. The disciple asks him with reverence, 'O, Master, what is good for the soul? The saint says, 'Liberation'. He again asks the saint, ‘ What is the nature of this liberation, and what is the way to attain it?' The saint answers, 'Liberation is the attainment of an altogether different state of the soul, on the removal of ail the impurities of karmic matter and the body, characterized by the inherent qualities of the soul such as knowledge and bliss free from pain and suffering.'

Since this state of liberation is entirely beyond the experience of those who have not attained omnisoience, other teachers of limited knowledge, who consider themselves omniscient, describe the state of liberation in utterly different ways, with words of fallacious reasoning which do not touch its nature. For instance, the Samkhya says that ‘the nature of Purusa is eaitanyath (consciousness), and that is bereft of the knowledge of objects.' But such eaitanyath 1 is a non-entity, as it has no form like the horns of a donkey. The Vaikesika says that the annihilation of particular qualities such as intellect is the liberation of the soul. This idea also is untrue, for there is no object without particular qualities. The Bauddha says that the liberation of the soul is like the extinction of a light. This also is mere fanoy like the horns of a donkey, and it is condemned by his own words. Similarly with regard to others. We shall describe the true nature of liberation later on.

Similarly, they make contradictory assertions even with regard to the path to liberation. ‘Liberation is attained by means of knowledge alone irrespective of conduct, or by faith alone, or by conduct alone irrespective of knowledge.' Just as a person stricken with disease cannot free himself from it merely by a knowledge of remedy etc. severally, so also know- ledge etc. severally do not constitute the means of liberation.

If so what is the means of liberation ? These three together constitute the means of liberation."


 * FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE


 * The path to liberation
 * Five kinds of knowledge
 * Sensory knowledge
 * Scriptural knowledge
 * Clairvoyance
 * Telepathy
 * Omniscience


 * 2. THE CATEGORY OF THE LIVING


 * The distinctive characteristics of the soul
 * Transmigrating and liberated souls
 * Immobile and mobile beings
 * Physical and psychical senses
 * The senses and their objects
 * Transit from one birth to another
 * Kinds of birth
 * The five types of bodies


 * 3. THE LOWER WORLD AND THE MIDDLE WORLD


 * 4. THE CELESTIAL BEINGS


 * The four orders of celestial beings


 * 5. THE CATEGORY OF THE NON-LIVING


 * The non-soul substances
 * Atoms and molecules


 * 6. INFLUX OF KARMA


 * 7. THE FIVE VOWS


 * 8. BONDAGE OF KARMA


 * Causes of bondage of karmas
 * The four types of bondage
 * The eight main types and the subtypes of karmas
 * Duration of karmas
 * Fruition of karmas
 * Shedding of karmas


 * 9. STOPPAGE AND SHEDDING OF KARMA


 * 10. LIBERATION


 * Causes of omniscience
 * Liberation
 * Distinctions among the liberated souls