In Jainism, seeing the self as an Arihant in meditation means recognizing or aiming to realize one’s own highest potential as a liberated, perfectly awakened soul.

What it signifies:

• Arihant = a soul that has conquered all inner passions (kaṣāya) and attained kevala jñāna (perfect, omniscient knowledge) but remains in the worldly state until final liberation. In this sense, an Arihant is the ideal of spiritual achievement.
• In meditation, this contemplation helps you align your inner state with the qualities of an Arihant: non-violence (ahiṃsā), truth, detachment, discipline, and the resolve to eradicate passions.
• It is not about ego or self-aggrandizement; it is about recognizing the potential of the true self to awaken and to emulate the virtues of an Arihant on the path toward final liberation (mokṣa).

Important nuances (Digambara vs. Śvetāmbara):

• Both traditions describe Arihants as perfected souls who have overcome passions and attained omniscience. They may differ in how they classify or emphasize certain stages (for example, distinctions between Arihant and Tirthankar roles in some texts), but the core idea remains: an Arihant is a highly enlightened, liberated soul in the material world.

How to reflect this in practice:

• Use the feeling of “I am striving to be like an Arihant” to cultivate inner discipline, ethical conduct, and steady meditation.
• Let the contemplation inspire humility, compassion for all living beings, and effort to purify the mind, rather than turning it into self-glorification.

If you’d like, tell me which Jain tradition you follow (Digambara or Śvetāmbara), or specify a text you’re studying, and I can tailor the explanation more precisely to that context.