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Umāsvāti on the Quality of Sukha
PADMANABH S. JAINI
Umāsvāti begins and ends his Tattvārthādhigama-Bhāsya (also called Svopajña-Bhāsya by Svetāmbaras?)—henceforth called Bhāsya-on the Tattvārthasūtra with several verses, which emphasize the goal of mokṣa as the absence of karmas and klešas, which can be described as the end of suffering (duḥkha-ksaya). In his concluding verses, called samksepa-ślokas, there are as many as eleven verses that talk about spiritual bliss (sukha) (that is, complete happiness), present in the state of a liberated soul (siddha). There, he asserts that this sukha is called avyābādha by the sages. This seems to be a technical term, not found in Monier-Williams Dictionary. But the word vyābādha does appear and it means 'to hurt' or 'to injure', so avyābādha could be translated as a state free from injury [produced by karmic matter)'. When asked by a questioner as to how a being who has no body whatsoever and who has destroyed all eight karmas can have sukha at all. Umāsvāti explains, 'In the world, the word sukha is employed in four different meanings. When someone says, “Fire is happiness or wind is happiness”, he is talking about the quality of the objects (vişaya). When a person in the absence of a particular pain thinks he is happy, then he is using it in the sense of freedom from pain. When a person enjoys pleasures
