Samadhitantra ( Samadhi Shatak)

About  Acharya Poojyapad : author of Samadhi Tantra Shastra

Acharya  Poojyapad has been a very famous personality eminently well known in line of Jain Acharyas whose period was somewhere between 200A.D. to 600 A.D.  in between Acharya Samantbhadra  and Bhatt Akalankdeo. He is known to have authored several important shastras namely Jainendra Vyakaran, Sarvarth Siddhi ( Teeka of Tatvarth Sutra), Samadhi Tantra and Ishtopadesh.  Samadhi Tantra is perhaps his last creation wherein he has concentrated upon the inner self and described in a simple manner how the follower of path to salvation should be and what should be his practice. He has also described the Bahiratma – the ignorant worldly person in detail showing the mistakes one has to avoid. His philosophy has followed Acharya Kundakundacharya  in a strong manner. 

This Shastra is also known as Samadhi Shatak although it comprises of 105 shlokas. Acharya Prabhachandra wrote commentary on this Shastra which is not included in this version being presented. It is planned to publish the complete Shastra in four parts.

                                               Samadhitantra ( Samadhi Shatak)

                                                            Part I

Firstly the commentator Acharya Prabhachandra recites the Mangalacharan :

Bowing to Jinendra Bhagwan, who is Siddha,  having incomparable omniscience, worshipped by Devendras, who is like a boat to cross the ocean of worldly existence, I shall describe the Samadhi Shatak.

Acharya Poojyapad offers obeisance to Siddhas for the objective of describing the path for Moksha for those desirous of it and completion of this shastra without hindrance.

1. Obeisance to the Siddhatma (Liberated soul) having indestructible infinite knowledge form who has realized the soul in the form of soul only and known others as karma generated Manushya (human)  etc paryaya (state) form Pudgala (matter) only.

Now he worships Arihants who have disclosed the path to Moksha and attaining Siddhahood.

2. Obeisance to the Arihant Paramatma, Veetragi (detached)  Jinendra Bhagwan who has destroyed four types of Gyanavarana etc. karmas, has emerged victorious over the Moha –Raga- Dwesha ( delusion, attachment, aversion) which are cause for transmigration in this world and has overcome the subjects of the senses. Even without any desire and without opening the mouth and without usage of tongue etc. for speaking a word the  divine sound i.e. the Jin Vani always emanates gloriously of the Tirthankaras. Obeisance to such omnipotent   Paramatma having indestructible bliss who have shown the path to liberation, who is pervading within all the objects of the universe within his knowledge and observing  them like Vishnu. 

Now Acharya Poojyapad  declares his intention of writing this Shastra and its objectives:

3. After offering obeisance to the Paramatna, I (Poojyapada Acharya) shall narrate the scripture describing the pure nature of   soul devoid of impurities of karmas by means of inference and logic , experiencing it with own focused mind for the benefit of those desirous of pure bliss beyond senses, to the best of my capability.

He describes the types of souls and out of them which is desirable :

4. The soul is of three kinds within all the Jivas of this universe, namely Bahiratma, Antaratma and Paramatma. Knowing these three one should acquire Paramatma by making efforts for Antaratma and discarding the Bahiratma.

The nature of each of these three types of souls is described:

5. Believing the body etc.  to be soul, having such delusion is Bahiratma. Experiencing the soul to be of the nature of soul, without having delusions of the nature of soul, separating soul from the raga-dwesha etc. impurities and having proper knowledge of the soul and impurities , is known as Antaratma. The one who is devoid of all the impurities due to karmas and is totally pure is Paramatma.

Alternate names of the Paramatma are described:

6. Pure- devoid of impurities, keval (only)- without any relation to body etc form other dravyas, Shuddha- such highly purified being by separating self from ragas etc., Vivikta- one not having any contact with the body and karmas etc., Prabhu- lord of Indra etc. , Avyaya (inexpendible)- one who would never deviate from the nature of having four infinite form powers, Parameshti- worshipped by Indras etc. for attaining the highest level, Paramatma- outstanding soul with respect to worldly jivas, Ishwar- owner of such glories not possible for other jivas i.e. having internal four infinite form powers and external magnificence of Samosharan etc. , Jina – destroyer of gyanavarana etc. all the karma enemies, these all are the names of the Paramatma.

The reason for the Bahiratma to have delusion of oneness of the soul with the body  is disclosed:

7. Bahiratma, having the nature of acquiring external substances only by means of sensory doors, is devoid of the knowledge of the soul ; therefore he is deluded into believing the body to be soul only.

The Bahiratma believes all the four Gati related bady forms to be his own :

8 & 9. Foolish Bahiratma believes the soul residing in the body of humans as human, soul residing in body of tiryanch (animals) as tiryanch, soul residing in the body of Devas as Deva, soul residing in bodies of Narakis (hellish people) as Naraki. But actually soul is not such i.e. he does not have form of human, tiryanch, naraki or deva . In reality that soul is owner of infinitely infinite knowledge and infinitely infinite powers which can be experienced by himself and has the nature of remaining within his own self in ever stationary form.

How does the Bahiratma view the other bodies ? This is told next:

10. Ignorant Bahiratma, observing the corporeal-non sentient body of others belonging to others’ soul, seeing it similar to his own body, believes it to be others’ soul.

How are the Bahiratma deluded and what does he believe? This is replied:

11. Ignorant of the nature of soul, people have the belief that the bodies of self and others’ are self or others’. Therefore  they believe the relationship of their own bodies with those of wife-son etc. itself to be relationship of the souls and such delusion prevails.

The result of such delusion is informed next:

12. With this type of delusion, Sanskar (initiation)  of the form of Avidya (ignorance) is strengthened. Due to this the ignorant jiva believes the body only to be his soul in future births also.

And what does he do after believing in this manner? This is told next:

13. The Bahiratma having belief of oneness with the body, definitely accepts the body as the same as his own soul while the Antaratma believes the soul only to be his own which is different from the body.

Acharya expresses sorrow on the sad state of affairs of the Bahiratma of relating body to the soul :

14. Due to the sense of oneness with the body, the concepts of my wife, my son etc. are generated. It is sad that the Bahiratma form people believe the riches of wife-son etc. to be same as their own riches due to such concepts. In this way the world is being cheated.

Concluding the above He now invites the soul to become  Antaratma :

15. The sense of oneness with the body is the sole cause for the suffering in the world; therefore discarding the sense of oneness with the body and preventing the wandering of senses in external subjects of senses, immerse within your own soul.

The Antaratma experiences unprecedented pleasure by establishing oneness with the soul and then he recalls his mistake of remaining Bahiratma for so long:

16. From the beginingless time, I have been separated from my own nature of the soul and corrupted by the subjects of the senses . Thus lost in those subjects, I have never recognized myself as the soul.

Now the means for realizing the soul is described:

17. In accordance with the procedure described in next shloka, discarding the tendency of external communication with speech , discard the internal monologues also totally. This yoga i.e. Samadhi (meditation) in brief is the highlighter of the Paramatma nature (true nature of the soul).

The procedure for discarding the internal and external speech tendencies are described:

18. The various body form  objects seen by me are insentient and do not know anyone at all and the knowing natured sentient soul is not seen by me being non corporeal hence whom can I talk with?

Thus discarding the external vikalpas, the internal vikalpas are prevented next:

19. I am capable of being taught by others, i.e other Upadhyaya etc. can teach me something or, I can teach something to others ( if I believe so ) then this is an act of madness of mine because I am Nirvikalpak i.e. cannot be acquired/captured   by words.

The state of Nirvikalpa form own  nature is elaborated:

20. The one pure soul form  who does not accept anger etc. form non acceptable entities and does not discard infinite knowledge etc form qualities of his own and knows all the substances totally i.e. in their dravya-guna-paryaya form , that sentient dravya is myself worthy of being experienced.

How were my previous activities  prior to realization of the self ? That is told:

21. Just as a person who believed the scarecrow to be a man and accordingly behaved with it in a deluded manned , in the same way I had mistakenly believed the body etc. other substances to be soul and acted accordingly prior to attaining self realization.

And now after self realization , what are my activities ?

22.  Just as a person who had mistaken the scarecrow to be a man and later upon realization of the wrong delusion he tries to discard the notion of getting some assistance/benefits from him, in the same way after  being relieved of the delusion of believing the body etc. to be soul, I too am engaged in discarding the notion of getting some benefits from body etc.

For clearance of the false notion of being female etc gender and one or many numbers, the extraordinary nature of soul is described:

23. I experience my own soul within my own soul by myself with my own conscious nature by means of my own experiencing knowledge.  That pure consciousness form myself is neither Napunsak ( neutral gender), nor female or male; neither one or two or many.

The soul which one experiences, how is that ? It is told next:

24. Due to non realization of my own pure soul  form self, I had been in deep sleep so far- I had no proper knowledge of the substances- and now by realization of my pure soul nature I have been awakened- started  knowing the nature of reality in the right way, that pure soul nature is not realizable by means of the senses , not describable by words –cannot be spoken. That can only be experienced by own self. I am of that nature.