10. Samayasar Gatha 23-30

Now effort is made  to explain to the ignorant in the following gathas:

Gatha 23 : The deluded, ignorant Jiva says that these bonded i.e. body etc. and non-bonded i.e. money, food etc. other dravyas  are mine. How is that Jiva ? – He is strongly influenced by the bhavas of attachment, aversion and passions.

Gatha 24 : Acharya says that in the knowledge of omniscient the Jiva has been seen to be of the nature of permanent cognition ( conscious activity). How can he be of the form of Pudgala dravya ? – and you say that pudgala dravya  is mine .

Gatha 25 : If Jiva dravya can manifest into the form of pudgala dravya then pudgala dravya can also become Jiva – that should be the result. (Acharya says ) If such a thing happens then you can make the assertion that pudgala dravya is mine, but such a thing never happens.

Commentary : Ignorant Jiva without true knowledge experiences the pudgala dravya as belonging to him.

How is that ignorant jiva ? – whose nature has been totally obscured resulting in the masking of the differentiating knowledge illuminance.

And how is he ? -Due to strong ignorance his heart has been deluded completely.

And how is he ? -Due to the lack of differentiating knowledge he cannot distinguish between self and others; he believes the vibhava ( corrupted bhavas) to be his own instead of his own true bhavas, because his own nature has been completely clouded by the presence of other impure bhavas.  

How are those impure bhavas ? – Those which have been generated out of fruition of several types of miserable bondages at the same time, just as a sapphire stone is seen to be of different colours due to the proximity of different colours. At the same time its own pure white nature is not visible. In the same way due to the influence of   karmas , the pure nature of soul is occluded and is not visible. To the ignorant who believes the pudgala dravya to be his own, Acharya preaches in the following manner-

“ O deluded soul! You are killing your own soul! Just as  elephants etc. animals  eat tasty food along with grass without differentiating. You give up your folly of eating in such manner! Give up!! Because the omniscient has revealed in his knowledge the Jiva dravya to be of the nature of cognition permanently, then how can he be of nature of pudgala dravya ? Hence how do you believe the pudgala dravya to be yours ?

How is the knowledge of omniscient? Which has removed all doubts of incorrectness and ambiguity.

And how is it ? Which is like an incomparable lamp to illuminate all the objects of the universe. – such omniscient has revealed the nature of substance in his knowledge. Just as salt becomes watery sometimes, and water becomes salt at other times, in the same way if Jiva dravya becomes pudgala dravya and pudgala dravya becomes Jiva dravya , then your assertion that “pudgala dravya is mine” can be acceptable, but nature of dravya never changes.

The same thing is explained more clearly by means of an example. Just as salt which is a solid is seen to become like liquid , and the flowing nature liquid is seen to become solid salt at other times. This is so because there is no inconsistency in salt appearing in solid form sometimes  or liquid form at other times. But it has never been seen that Jiva dravya of the nature of permanent cognition manifest in the form of pudgala dravya , nor pudgala dravya of the nature of insentience, permanently  without cognition has been seen to manifest in the form of Jiva dravya at any time. This is so because the congition and non cognition cannot coexist together  like darkness with brightness. The insentient and sentient cannot become  one hence you should be happy and be alert by cleansing your soul, and experience your own dravya within self – this is the sermon of the gurus.

Explanation : This ignorant Jiva believes the pudgala dravya to be his own. He has been preached to be alert and realise that insentient matter  and sentient Jiva are always different and they can never become one – this has been seen by omniscient in his knowledge. Hence O ignorant! You give up your insistence to be having oneness with other dravya and discard your wrong belief.

Now a kalash states the same thing :

Shloka 23 : Acharya says very gently  “ Dear brother! Whichever way, in spite of sufferings and hardships , even at the cost of life, being curious about the tatvas ( elements of jiva), treating your own body and other dravyas as your neighbor for a period of muhurta (48 minutes), experience your own soul. With that you will discover the glorious illuminance of the soul different from all other dravyas, and   you will give up attachment and oneness  towards body etc. form corporeal pudgala dravyas  very quickly. “

Explanation : If this soul reflects upon the pure nature of self and experiences it, for a period of just 48 minutes , immersing himself totally, without getting disturbed by the calamities, then destroying the Ghatiya karmas ( four most harmful karmas ), he attains keval gyana ( omniscience) and Moksha subsequently. If experiencing the soul alone is so magnificent then destroying the delusion and achieving right belief is far easier. Hence the gurus have preached here keeping that in mind.

Now the oblivious ignorant jiva questions , which is stated in the form of gatha:

Gatha 26 : The ignorant says that if Jiva is not body, then all the prayers of Tirthankaras and Acharyas become irrelevant and  false , therefore  he thinks that the body itself is soul. 

Commentary : Whatever is this soul is nothing but the pudgala matter form body. If that were not true then all the prayers of Tirthankaras and Acharyas would be proved to be false.

How are those prayers ? One of them is described as follows:

Shloka 24 : Those Tirthankaras and Acharyas are worthy of worshipping. How are they? The brightness of their bodies bathes all ten directions, cleanses it, purifies it. Their brilliance is such that even the high illuminance of bright sun is etc. is occluded, obscured. With their handsomeness they capture the minds of the people, and with their divine speech they shower nectar of happiness in the ears of the bhavya(fortunate) jivas. They are adorned with 1008 features – such are the Tirthankaras. All these prayers of Tirthankaras and Acharyas become invalid. Hence our singular (one sided) view is that soul is body only i.e. pudgala dravya- so says the ignorant oblivious.

Now Acharya replies that this is not true, you do not understand the system of nayas. The divisions of nayas are described in the next gatha:

Gatha 27 : Although Vyavahara naya states that the Jiva and body are one and the same, however according to  Nishchaya naya , Jiva and body are not one substance.

Commentary : Just as in the world, the gold and silver are melted together and treated as a single block in the unified form. In the same way the soul and body are treated as a single object since they occupy the same space. In this manner from Vyavahara sense the soul and body are one but from Nishchaya point of view they are not one and the same. When yellow gold and white silver are considered in Nishchaya sense then due to different natures of theirs, there is no unity of substances and they are different only. In the same way the soul with the characteristics of Upayoga (attentiveness) is very different from body with nature of non upayoga (inertness), hence they are not one but several- this is clearly stated by system of Nayas. Therefore the prayer of body is treated as same as that of soul in Vyavahara sense only.

Explanation: Vyavahara naya calls the body and soul as one while Nishchaya naya calls them differently. Therefore from Vyavahara point of view only the prayer of body is called prayer of soul.

The same is declared in next Gatha :

Gatha 28 :   The munis offering obeisance to the pudgala body , different than the jiva , believe that they have worshiped the Kevali Bhagwan.

Commentary : Just as due to white nature of silver, the gold is also called white gold in practice , but if considered realistically, the gold is not white but yellow only. In the same manner, the obeisance to Tirthankara Kevali bhagawan based upon white or reddish colour of body, as white or red is obeisance in vyavahara only. On considering realistically the white or red are not nature of kevali Tirthankara  bhagawan. Hence from Nishchaya point of view the prayer of body cannot be prayer of soul at all.

Explanation : Here someone enquires that the Vyavahara naya is called untrue and the body is inert only hence what is the purpose served by worshiping inert body in vyavahara sense.

Reply – The vyavahara naya is not totally untrue. In comparison to Nishchaya naya , it is called untrue. The house holder cannot see the own or others’ soul directly and can only see the body. By seeing the peaceful appearance of the body he also manifests in peaceful bhavas. Recognizing these benefits the obeisance is offered to the body also and by seeing his  peaceful appearance, it confirms the internal detached bhavas which is also a benefit.

The same is repeated in next gatha : 

Gatha 29 : That obeisance offered based upon the body is not acceptable from Nishchaya naya point of view, because features of the body are not same as the  qualities of the Kevali. Those who worship the qualities of the Kevali, they only worship kevali  in reality.

Commentary : Just as gold does not have the white colour property of silver, hence gold cannot be called white in reality; it can be identified by its yellow etc. features. In the same way the Tirthankara kevali bhagwan  does not have features of white blood etc ( which exist in the body), hence from real point of view the worshipping of his body would not be same as offering obeisance to the Tirthankara kevali soul. He can only be worshiped by offering obeisance to his qualities.

Now the disciple enquires that the soul is also existing with the support of the body hence why offering prayers to the body is not same as worshiping the soul in reality ? In reply the next gatha is stated giving an example:

Gatha 30 : Just as description of the town is not same as the description of the king. In the same way the worshiping of the features of body cannot be same as worshiping of the qualities of the Kevali.

In the commentary  shloka is recited giving example of the above:

Shloka 25 : How is this town ? Walls of the fort of the town reach up to the sky. The gardens have swallowed the entire land i.e. the land is decorated with gardens everywhere. The trenches around the fort reach up to the patala ( nether world) i.e. it is extremely deep.

Commentary : This is a typical description of town. Although the king is the owner of the town ; the fort, gardens, trenches are not the king. Hence description of the town is not description of the king.

Similarly the description of body of Tirthankara cannot be same as that of Tirthankara, as given in following shloka :

Shloka 26 : The glory of the Jinendra is as magnificent as his beauty. How is it ? He is always without fault , all his body is beautifully proportioned. And how is it ? In whom from birth itself incomparable and natural beauty exists which is always pleasing to all. And how is it ? – which is peaceful like the ocean , which doesn’t have perturbations.

Commentary : Although the Tirthankara is owner of the body , even so the well proportioned, incomparable beauty, pleasantness are not qualities of the soul. Therefore the Tirthankara does not have these qualities hence prayers of those qualities is not the same as that of the Tirthankara.