Paramatma Prakash - 10

Now it is told that the soul being handicapped does not go anywhere by himself nor come from anywhere. Karmas only take him and bring him:

Gatha 66: O Jiva! The Jiva is like a disabled person. On his own he does not go anywhere nor come from anywhere. In all the three loks the karmas only take him and bring him.

Commentary: From aspect of shuddha Nishchaya naya, the soul has the property of infinite strength due to which he is free of bondage of shubha-ashubha karmas. However from aspect of Vyavahara naya,  with the acquisition of karmas by activities of mind-speech-body without having the spirit of pure soul, getting tied up strongly by bondages of punya-pap, does not go himself anywhere nor come from anywhere on his own, just like a disabled person. Just as a jailed person does not go anywhere on his own or come from anywhere, only guards  carry him and bring him with himself remaining disabled. In  the same way, the soul moves to and fro  in the three loks on account of karmas resulting in four gatis which prevent realization of Paramatma. Thus he travels from one birth to another.

The summary is that all the shubha-ashubha karmas which are different from Veetrag supreme bliss form own  Paramatma natured self are discardable .

In this way , eight dohas are told describing the nature of strength of karmas.

Further nine separate sutras are told describing the spirit of differentiated-undifferentiated jewel trio:

Gatha 67: Soul is own substance. The body etc. are different substance. Soul can never become another substance nor can other substance become soul; thus it is told by Jineshwara from aspect of reality.

Commentary:  Pure soul is of the nature of Keval gyan etc., it is not  corporeal, nor is it afflicted ; it is pure soul form only. The other substances desire, anger etc. are of the form of bhava karma, dravya karma and nokarma which are other only not belonging to soul. 

Although the soul has manifested in the desire, anger etc. form in worldly state from the aspect of ashuddha nishchaya naya, even then from aspect of supreme pure shuddha nishchaya naya he does not manifest into desire-anger etc. form giving up his own nature of knowledge etc.; thus remains own nature form. The raga etc. form corrupted manifestations are only afflictions on account of others and not due to own nature.  Therefore soul never manifests into these raga etc. forms ; thus it is told by Yogishwara.

Here the pure soul which is one with the blissful form of Moksha and different from desires-anger etc. is the one which is worthy of aspiring for. This is the meaning.

Next it is told that the soul does not participate  in birth, death, bondage or Moksha from aspect of shuddha nishchaya naya. He remains as it is.

Gatha 68: O yogi! If considered from the aspect of Nishchaya naya, then the Jiva neither takes birth nor dies and does not indulge in bondage or Moksha. From aspect of shuddha Nishchaya naya the soul is devoid of bondage or Moksha; thus it is told by Jinendra deva.

Commentary: Listening to this, the disciple enquired, “O Prabhu! If he is not doer of Moksha from aspect of pure Dravyarthika form shuddha Nishchaya naya, then it should imply that from aspect of shuddha naya, there is no Moksha. If there is no Moksha then it is pointless to make efforts for Moksha? “ This is answered as follows, “ Moksha is attained after bondage, but that bondage does not exist from aspect of shuddha nishchaya naya. For that reason the Moksha indicating elimination of bondage is also not there from aspect of shuddha nishchaya naya. If bondage existed from aspect of shuddha nishchaya  naya then one would  have remained bonded always and never could have attained freedom.”

It is explained by example- One person is tied with  shackles and another person is free. Of them the bonded person can be said to have become free after being  released from aspect of vyavahara. However the one who is free, if he is asked ‘ you have become free?’ then he gets angry and asks ‘ when was I bonded that you ask me if I have become free? ‘ Hence the one who is bonded can be said to attain release  but the one who is not bonded  cannot be said to attain freedom.

 In the same way from aspect of shuddha nishchaya naya, Jiva is not bonded, hence he cannot be said to have become liberated. Bondage and liberation are from aspects of vyavahara naya only. From aspect of shuddha nishchaya naya there is neither bondage nor Moksha. Bondage exists from aspect of ashuddha naya hence attempt should also be made to destroy it.

Here the essence is that our own pure soul of the form of Siddhas is cherishable to people engrossed in veetrag nirvikalpa Samadhi, rest is all worthless.

Next it is told that from aspect of Nishchaya naya, Jiva does not have birth, death, old age, disease, gender, colour or sangya (desires). Soul is free of all such blemishes:

Gatha 69: O soul form Jiva! Jiva does not have birth, old age, death, disease, gender, colour, sangya(desires) of food etc.  Know this for sure.

Commentary: The anger, pride, deceit, greed etc. form vibhava manifestations which are opposite to the veetrag nirvikalpa Samadhi and the corruptions of the form of birth death etc. which are resulted due to fruition of karma acquired ; they definitely are not belonging to jiva from aspect of shuddha nishchaya naya. Since from aspect of shuddha nishchaya naya, soul is ordained with keval gyan etc. infinite qualities  and is different from the birth, old age, death, disease, sorrow, fear, male-female-neutral gender, black-white etc. colours, hunger-fear-sex-possessions sangya .

Here the pure jiva of the nature of infinite bliss is worthy of aspiration and the birth, death  etc are blemishes which are discardable. Only soul is worthy of aspiration. This is the meaning.

If from aspect of shuddha nishchaya naya, the birth-death etc. do not belong to Jiva then to whom do they belong ? In reply to the disciple’s query the answer is that they all belong to the body:

Gatha 70: Shri Guru says that O disciple! The birth and death belong to the body only i.e. assuming new body, discarding existing body, becoming old – they all belong to body. Body only has different colours of white, black, green, yellow, red form five kinds, or Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shoodra these four communities, different kind of diseases, masculine, feminine and neutral genders and the body only has characteristics of Yati and mind (dravya).

Commentary: Without the spirit of belief-knowledge-conduct  form jewel trio of real pure soul, the karmas accrued by raga-dwesha-moha  and the corruptions of birth and death etc. caused by them  belong to Jiva from aspect of Vyavahara naya even then from aspect of Nishchaya naya they do not belong to jiva but they belong to body- so it should be understood.

Discarding the web form vikalpas in the oneness with the body etc., when the Jiva manifests into own form of veetrag blissful state, then only pure soul is cherishable- this is the essence. 

Now it is told that O Jiva! Do not be fearful by knowledge of the birth and death of the body:

Gatha 71: O soul ! Seeing the old age, death of the body, do not be afraid. The one which is of supreme Bramha  nature devoid of old age and death, know that to be soul.

Commentary: Although Jiva undergoes birth and death from aspect of Vyavahara naya ; even so from aspect of shuddha nishchaya naya they do not belong to Jiva but belong to body. Knowing this, do not be afraid. Believe in your mind that the indivisible Bramha form devoid of old age- death is my nature. The pure soul is the supreme and know that to be your nature. Discarding all the webs of vikalpas and objects of five senses, immersing in supreme Samadhi , you contemplate of own soul only, this is the essence.

Next it is told that even if the body is punctured, dismembered or destroyed, do not be afraid; contemplate of the pure soul only:

Gatha 72:  O yogi! This body gets punctured, gets divided into two parts, gets dismembered or destroyed even then do not be afraid and feel disheartened in the mind. Contemplate of the pure soul only; i.e. meditate upon the soul devoid of dravya karma, bhava karma and no karma having nature of veetrag blissful form. By meditation upon the Paramatma form , you shall cross the ocean of rebirths.

Commentary: The one who does not indulge in raga-dwesha form vikalpas in spite of body getting punctured etc. and contemplates upon the pure soul in nirvikalpa state, he attains Moksha within short time.

Further it is told that the raga etc. form manifestations caused due to karmas and the body etc. other substances are not conscious substance hence they are different from Jiva from aspect of Nishchaya naya:

Gatha 73: O Jiva! All the raga etc. form bhavas generated by karmas and the insentient body etc. substances are definitely different from the nature of Jiva. Know that these are generated on fruition of karmas and nature of soul is pure knowledge- vision form.

Commentary: The summary is that at the time of manifesting in the form  disassociating with Mithyatva, Avirati,Pramad,  Kashaya and Yoga,  only pure soul is cherishable.

Next it is told that discarding the other dravyas different from the knowledge form supreme soul, you meditate upon the pure soul only:

Gatha 74: O Jiva ! Giving up all other bhavas different from knowledge natured soul, you contemplate upon the pure soul only.

Commentary: Mithyatva, raga etc. are internal bhavas and body etc. are external bhavas which are different from the soul comprising of keval gyan etc. infinite qualities. Discarding such other bhavas different from pure soul, you contemplate upon the pure  natured form soul manifested in the form of undivided jewel trio form kaaran (causal) samayasar engaged with the goal of Karya (effect) Samayasar denoted by revelation of keval gyan etc. infinite four qualities.

The message is that the pure soul alone is a worthwhile  aspiration.

Now it is told that you should know the soul of the form of samyak darshan-gyan-charitra  which is devoid of eight karmas  and all defects from the aspect of Nishchaya naya:

Gatha 75: Contemplate upon the samyak darshan- gyan-charitra form soul  devoid of gyanavarana etc. eight karmas and Mithyatava- ragas etc. corruptions from aspect of Nishchaya naya, by means of shuddhopayoga.

Commentary: Discarding all vibhava form manifestations of the form of desires of seen- heard-experienced enjoyments, contemplate upon the own nature. Here the objective is pure soul  which is one with the bliss of Nirvana beyond sensory experience and different from dravya karma, bhava karma and nokarmas. That alone is objective of aspiration for Bhavya jivas possessing undivided  jewel trio.

In this way, in this first Maha Adhikar describing the soul of three types, nine doha-sutras are told describing differentiating knowledge.

Next an independent Doha-sutra is told with the primacy of Nishchaya Samyak drishti:

Gatha 76: Knowing himself by himself, this Jiva becomes Samyak Drishti who gets rid of karmas quite soon.

Commentary: Manifesting in the form of Antaratma  with Veetrag  own experience form knowledge, knowing and experiencing himself he becomes Veetrag Samyak Drishti.   Becoming Samyak Drishti he gets rid of Gyanavarana etc. eight karmas soon.

Here, the reason due to which, on becoming Veetrag Samyak Drishti  this Jiva getting  free of karmas becomes Siddha, the same reason is cause for pure soul experience in accordance with Veetrag Charitra; which is Veetrag Samyaktva which is worthy objective of contemplation- this is the message.

Similar statement is made by shri Kundakundacharya in Moksha Pahud granth in respect of characteristics of Nishchaya Samyaktva which says, “ The Yati engaged in own soul nature definitely gets to be Samyak Drishti who manifesting in Samyaktva form destroys eight form of karmas.”

Continued………