Sunday, July 5, 2020

Paramatma Prakash - 13


Now it is told that really the experience of the soul itself is Samyakdarshan:

Gatha 96: O yogi! Only one soul alone is Samyakdarshan, rest all is Vyavahara , hence soul alone is worthy of contemplation which is the essence of the three loks.

Commentary: The soul substance is of the nature of Veetrag, ever blissful, one, indivisible and its right belief, knowledge and  experience in  indivisible jewel trio form are its characteristics. The own soul immersed in Nirvikalpa Manogupti etc. three guptis (restraints) form Samadhi is Samyaktva from aspect of Nishchaya naya, rest all is Vyavahara hence only soul is worthy of contemplation.

Just as a drink prepared out of grapes, sandalwood, camphor, shrikhand etc. different ingredients has different tastes but from aspect of indivisible naya it is called as a single drink; in the same way  soul has different forms manifested of the nature of pure soul experience form Nishchaya Samyak darshan, knowledge, conduct but from aspect of indivisible naya the soul is single substance. This principle of indivisible jewel trio has been stated in Jain scriptures in several places.

Quotation- “ The belief of soul is Samyak darshan, the knowledge of soul is Samyak gyan, remaining stationary within soul is Samyak charitra. This nishchaya jewel trio is cause for Moksha in reality hence how can it be cause for bondage? It can never be. “

Further it is told to meditate upon the pure soul only, by which one attains Moksha state within antarmuhurta itself:

Gatha 97: O yogi! Meditate upon the pure soul only. What is the purpose of (contemplating of) other several substances? Country, times, substances are different from the soul which do not serve any purpose. What is the use of entanglement in ragas etc. form web of vikalpas? Contemplate of just own nature; by meditating upon this Paramatma one attains Moksha state within Antarmuhurta itself.

Commentary: Here the disciple enquires -  If one attains Moksha by contemplating of Paramatma in Antarmuhurta then why don’t we attain it when we meditate upon it ? Its answer is that the type of Nirvikalpa Shukla dhyan  possible in   fourth kaal by people having Vajra vrishabh Narach Sanhanan is not feasible at present.

The same thing is stated in other scriptures which implies- “ the omniscient veetrag deva  has informed that in this fifth kaal in this Bharat Kshetra, the Shukla Dhyan is not possible and only Dharma Dhyan is possible. One cannot climb the Upasham Shreni or Kshapak shreni in this fifth kaal and only seventh gunasthana is the highest feasible gunasthana. “

Here the summary is that the reason by which the meditation of Paramatma leads to Moksha in Anatarmuhurta, for the same reason to destroy the stay in the world we should meditate upon the same Paramatma even now.

Next it is emphasized that if a person does not  have spirit of pure soul devoid of ragas in his mind then what can the scriptures, puranas, penances do for him ? Nothing :

Gatha 98: In whose own mind the pure soul is not existent in reality , then can the scriptures, puranas, penances attain Moksha for such a jiva ? Never.

Commentary: For one who does not have pure spirit of Veetrag Nirvikalpa Samadhi, all the scriptures, puranas, penances are waste for him. Here the disciple enquires that whether it is absolutely useless ? It is answered that it is not absolutely so. If they are accompanied with the spirit of Veetrag Samyaktva form own pure soul then they assist in attaining Moksha. 

However if they are devoid of Veetrag Samyaktva then they are cause for bondage of Punya. On the other hand if they are accompanied with Mithyatva- ragas etc. then they are cause for bondage of Pap, just as Rudra etc. get corrupted after studying scriptures up to   tenth Purva named  Vidyanuvada. 

Now it is told that those Bhavya souls who realized their souls, they realized everything : 

Gatha 99: O Yogi ! By knowing one’s own soul, the entire three loks are known since in the Keval gyan of bhava form of the soul, this entire lok is being reflected.

Commentary: By knowing the pure soul substance by means of Veetrag Nirvikalpa own experience, the entire twelve Ang form scriptures are known. This is so because Ramchandra, Bharat, Pandava, Sagar etc. great people also, after accepting ordination from Jinaraj and studying twelve Ang scriptures, immersed themselves in the meditation of pure Paramatma of the form of Nishchaya jewel trio as a result of knowledge of twelve Angs. Therefore knowing own soul itself is the essence of Veetrag Nirvikalpa experience. By knowing the soul, all the knowledge becomes worthwhile hence the one who knows his own soul knows everything.

Or, by tasting the supreme blissful  experience generated out of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the Gyani person knows that my nature is different and the body, ragas etc. are different and are not mine, hence by knowing the soul all others are also known; therefore the one who knows self, he knows all other substances different from self.

Or, the soul knows the entire lok-alok by means of sruta gyan form all pervasive knowledge, hence by knowing the soul everything gets known.

Or, generating the Keval gyan by means of Veetrag Nirvikalpa Samadhi, just as all objects pots-clothes etc. are reflected in a mirror; in the same way in the knowledge form mirror entire lok-alok is reflected.

All this establishes that by knowing the soul, everything else is also known. To summarize, understanding the meaning of these four descriptions, discarding the internal-external possessions, one should contemplate upon his pure soul.

Similar statement is made by shri Kundakundacharya in Samayasar- “ That worldly jiva whose worldly stay has nearly come to an end, who experiences his own soul by means of meditation and observes himself with the right vision of Samyakdrishti,  he observes the entire Jain Shasan (Jainism). So is stated in Jina sutra. How is that soul? He is devoid of ragas, gyanavarana etc., devoid of other bhavas like human-hell manifestations, devoid of specific divisions  like gunasthana-margana-jiva samasa etc. The one who knows the nature of such soul, sees it, experiences it ; he knows the secret of entire Jina shasan. “

The same sentiments are reiterated  as follows:

Gatha 100: This is a specialty of the people immersed in the experience of the soul that they can view the entire lok-alok within their own soul quite soon.

Commentary: The same can also be stated as follows: For the people immersed within their own self they are able to witness their own nature soon and once nature of self is witnessed then the entire lok-alok is seen. In this manner the above stated all four types of descriptions should be understood which have been accepted by all great acharyas.

The same meaning is elaborated by means of an example:

Gatha 101: Just as in the sky, the sun illuminates self and others, in the same way soul illuminates self and others. O yogi! Do not have any doubt on this. This is the nature of things.

Commentary: Just as in the cloud free sky, the sun illuminates self and others , in the same way, immersing within the veetrag nirvikalpa samadhi form karan(causal)  samayasar(pure soul), destroying the cloud form Moha, this soul illuminates self and others in the muni state by means of veetrag own experience form differentiating knowledge. Later manifesting into Arihant state as karya(effect)  samayasar, illuminates self and others totally in respects of dravya-kshetra-kaal-bhaav by means of keval gyan. Such is the nature of soul substance in which you should not have any doubts. Here the essence is that the Karya samayasar of the form of revelation of infinite foursome  of keval gyan, keval darshan, infinite bliss, infinite strength is the objective of attainment and worth aspiring for.

The same subject is further elaborated by means of another example:

Gatha 102: Just as a cluster of stars is reflected clearly  in pure water, in the same way in the pure soul devoid of vikalpas (thoughts)  of Mithyatva-ragas etc. entire lok-alok is reflected.

Commentary: The same thing was described specifically  earlier and same is applicable here. Essentially the all knowing-seeing soul is the objective of attainment. This gatha also strengthens the same.

Now it is told that the soul, by knowing whom, the self and others all  substances get to be known, the same soul you realize by means of knowledge of  own experience:

Gatha 103: The soul, by knowing whom, self and all other substances get to be known, O yogi! You know that soul by means of knowledge of experience of soul.

Commentary: Here the summary is that by knowing own blissful natured soul devoid of vikalpas of ragas etc. form webs, self and others all are known. Hence O yogi! O meditator! Know that soul by means of taste of supreme blissful experience generated by Veetrag nirvikalpa own experience i.e. by immersing attain the right experience. The own experience ( knowing self by means of self ) alone is the essence. Such a sermon was preached by Acharya Yogendu Deva to Prabhakar Bhatt.

Now Prabhakar Bhatt enquires about the nature of knowledge with great respect:

Gatha 104: O Bhagwan! Please illuminate that supreme knowledge to me by which own soul gets to be known. What is the use of other webs of vikalpas? Nothing!

Commentary: Prabhakar Bhatt enquires from acharya Yogendu Deva, “O Swami! The Veetrag knowledge of own experience by which within one moment, the pure, knowledgeable, singular natured soul gets to be known , please enlighten that knowledge to me. There is no purpose of other webs of vikalpas; since they only increase the vibhavas  of ragas etc. “

The essence is that the own pure soul experience form knowledge devoid of Mithyatva-ragas etc. by which nature of Paramatma is known within Antarmuhurta, that knowledge alone is the objective of realization. Such a prayer is made by disciple to the Guru.

Now shri Guru elucidates the nature of knowledge in four Gathas:

Gatha 105:  Shri Guru says, O Prabhakar Bhatt! Accept the soul itself to be knowledge. That knowledge form soul is equal to size of the lok in terms of the number of Pradesh (spatial elements), and from aspect of Vyavahara naya the knowledge is all pervasive in the Akash. There is another version of this Gatha which implies that from aspect of Nishchaya naya, the soul is equal to size of lok in terms of Pradesh while from aspect of Vyvahara it is equal to size of the body having the nature of expansion-contraction.

Commentary: 
From  aspect of Nishchaya Naya, the soul is not different from the five knowledges – Mati, shruta, Avadhi, Manah Paryaya and Keval Gyan. From aspect of Vyavahara naya, the knowledge is all pervasive in lok-alok similar to the eyes pervasive in the scenery. Just as eyes observe a shaped object but they do not transform into that shape; in the same way the soul knows  and sees  the lok-alok but does not take its form and remains in its own form. Although from aspect of Nishchaya naya, the soul has number of Pradesh the same as that of lok which are innumerable; even so from aspect of Vyavahara naya the soul is equal to the size of the body. The person who knows the soul discarding all  the webs of vikalpas of desires of the form of food, fear, sex, possessions , that person is called as knowledge being indifferent from it. There is no difference between soul and knowledge and soul itself is knowledge.

To summarize, the meditator who knows his own soul to be indifferent from five types of knowledges, from aspect of Nishchaya naya; such soul should be treated as objective of attainment. It is also said elsewhere that “ Mati, shruta, Avadhi, Manah Paryaya, Keval gyan – these five types of Samyak gyans are nature of one soul only; these cannot be attained without the soul  and that soul is the supreme substance realizing which the Jiva attains Nirvana. “

Continued……….

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