Within the Jain vision, the soul (jīva) is an eternal, individual reality, never dissolving into any larger whole and never ceasing to exist. It is fundamentally distinct from matter, yet in worldly existence it is enmeshed with it. In its own nature, the soul is perfectly pure, endowed with infinite knowledge, perception, bliss, and energy. This pristine state, however, is obscured by the presence of karma, understood not merely as moral consequence but as a subtle, material substance that adheres to the soul. Through thoughts, words, and deeds driven by passions such as violence, attachment, deceit, and greed, karmic particles are drawn toward the soul and bind to it. These karmas cloud the soul’s innate capacities and keep it rotating through the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (saṃsāra). Yet every soul, regardless of its current embodiment, retains the inherent potential to be fully liberated.

Liberation, or moksha, is described as the complete and final release of the soul from all karmic matter. When every trace of karma has been exhausted and shed, the soul manifests its true nature without obstruction: infinite knowledge, infinite perception, infinite bliss, and infinite energy. No longer subject to rebirth, the liberated soul (siddha) transcends all involvement with the material world and abides forever at the apex of the universe, in the realm known as Siddha-śilā or Siddhaloka. There it remains in unchanging, omniscient stillness, existing independently and without further entanglement in worldly processes. This state is not a fusion with any other reality, but the soul’s own perfected, solitary fulfillment.

The path to such liberation is articulated through the three jewels (ratnatraya): right faith (samyak-darśana), right knowledge (samyak-jñāna), and right conduct (samyak-cāritra). Right conduct is expressed through rigorous ethical discipline, especially non-violence (ahiṃsā) in thought, word, and deed, along with truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy, and non-attachment. These vows, supported by ascetic practices, meditation, and vigilant self-restraint, serve a dual purpose: they prevent the influx of new karmic matter (saṃvara) and enable the gradual shedding of existing karmas (nirjarā). Through such sustained self-purification, the soul loosens the bonds that have long weighed it down and moves toward its own inherent clarity. In this way, Jain spirituality presents liberation not as a gift bestowed from outside, but as the unveiling of what the soul has always, in essence, been.