History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c23.s5.11

c23.s5.11

On these verses Śīlāṅka comments that the Trairāśika followers of Gosāla are meant.² He interprets the verses as meaning that the blessed souls in a state of *mokṣa* are still conscious of the affairs of the world. They are liable to feel triumph and joy at the victories of the faith, and anger and hatred when it is in danger. Hence they again fall back into *saṃsāra*.³ Hoernle believed that the verses referred to the Jaina *arhants* from the Ājīvika point of view.⁴ This seems certainly to be a false interpretation, for other sources explicitly state a doctrine of *maṇḍala-mokṣa*, to which this verse and Śīlāṅka’s commentary closely correspond.