Soul (Aatma) Supreme (Parmaatma) and The Forms and Aim of Life

There are infinite living beings in this universe, present in 8.4 million different life forms. Each one has a soul. During the cycle of thousands of births and re-births every soul by virtue of various interactions and thoughts keeps adding karmic bonds. The 'pure atoms' of soul are deeply entrenched by interaction with karmic atoms - forming layers of  'not so pure' molecules engulfing the soul (aatma).  Original nature of all souls is that of peace, happiness and eternal bliss. 

Who is Parmaatma? The ultimate aim of all souls is to 1) Not create new karmic bonds and 2) Shed away all the old karmic bonds created over several births. Once the Soul gets rids of all these karmas and attains the supreme knowledge, it attains salvation and becomes Parmaatma (or the Supreme aka God as some say)! So all of us are capable of being Parmaatma ourselves and essence of Jainism is to follow such path and help others in the journey too.

What is Karma? How do we shed it? Are there good and bad karmas? Can they cancel each other? This by itself is  a very deep topic and I will take it later in a different blog. But the essence is that every soul has to reap the effect of karmas their the souls are entrenched with. Good and Bad Karmas (also known as Paap and Punya) don't cancel each other and every soul has to go through various births to see the effect of both. Any action that a living being performs - good or bad creates a karmic bond; and not just actions, the thoughts that we create in our minds also create equally powerful karmic bonds with the atoms of our souls (good or bad). Thats how we create karmas. The concept of Ahimsa (Non Violence) in Jainism symbolizes not hurting any other soul (or Jeev) by words, action or thoughts. Thoughts are the most important part of existence of any soul in human form. Its again a very deep topic which can be touched in later blogs but for now we can understand that collective thoughts create every action and deed in this universe. So, essentially its you running the universe under the universal laws!

Where does the soul reside after becoming Parmaatma or the Supreme? Does it live in Heaven? Infact is there Heaven and Hell? There is a definite place for Parmaatma (or souls who have attained moksha/nirvana). many words can be used to describe the state of perfection, Moksha, Siddha; but essence is Parmaatma or God as we know it. That place is not Heaven. Yes there are heavens and hells, infact multiple levels, layers of planers of heaven and hell exist. Devtas reside in Heaven. Devtas are extremely powerful, knowledgeable and can take many different forms as per their will. Their life cycle is enormous. But they are themselves part of this cycle of life and birth and haven't achieved the supreme knowledge yet.

The heavenly and hellish being take births in separate beds (unlike humans who are born in mother's womb). This is a very deep topic by  itself and might require several series on blogs which I will touch upon later.

So if the Supreme Souls dont reside in Heaven where do they reside? According to Jain Cosmology, there are 16 planes of heaven and then various layers of 'vaimanik' planes. Beyond that is the edge of the universe where there is SiddhaShila. Its shaped like half moon, forming the top of the universe, that is where all the Supreme Souls reside. That is the abode of all Siddhas. That's where all our Tirthankars of current time cycle are living as Souls. SiddhaShila is where Lord Adinath, Mahavir Swami, Parshvanath Bhagwan are currently residing.  

There  are four different categories of life that a soul can take re-birth into - 1) Humans 2) Devtas  or the Heavenly Beings 3) Narkis or the Hellish Beings and 4) Triyanch (which includes plants, animals, earth, fire, water, air etc). Depending on our karmas we take the next birth accordingly. It might take us several iterations of life and death to cleanse our souls of the karmic bonds engulfing the pure atoms inside. According to universal laws, salvation is possible only through the human life form. One who understands this should not leave any stone unturned in progressing towards the final goal in this life, its a blessing given to us and we cannot afford to waste this precious time. 

All four life forms have the capability to take birth as humans in the next life. However Devtas or Heavenly beings can't fall down to Hell in the immediate next birth atleast. Similarly the Narkis or the Hellish being can't take birth in Heaven in the immediate next life.