The Essence of Samaysar - 05

 

Therefore it establishes that jiva has doer-deed and enjoyer-enjoyable relationship with his own manifestations. This is stated in gatha 83 which says that  from aspect of Nishchaya naya, jiva is doer of himself and enjoyer of himself. Since there is no relationship of being pervasive-pervaded between jiva and pudgala karmas, hence there cannot be karta-karma relationship. Therefore even in worldly state as well as nonworldly ( Siddha)  state, the jiva has no doer-deed relationship. Soul is really doer-enjoyer of the self but not that of pudgala karma.

To remove any doubt, the Vyavahara naya is also stated in gatha 84 wherein it is stated that soul is doer and enjoyer of pudgala karmas from aspect of Vyavahara naya. Just as potter desires to make a pot and uses his hands to create etc, the potter is the doer and enjoyer of the pot. In the same way the soul  is also doer of pudgala karmas and enjoyer of their fruition. But there  is a flaw in such Vyavahara, which is described in gatha 85. If soul becomes doer and enjoyer of pudgala karma then he is carrying out activities of self as well as pudgala karma. This is not possible and it is against the principles described by Jinendra Bhagwan. Those who believe otherwise are called Mithyadrishti in gatha 86 since they  believe soul to be doer of activities of self as well as pudgala dravya.

The above arguments are resolved by Acharya Amritchandra by concluding that each dravya is doer of its own karma. Two dravyas do not do one karma nor one dravya has two karmas. One dravya does not have two deeds since one dravya does not manifest into another dravya. Further he says that since eternal times the worldly jivas are deluded into thinking that they are doer of other dravyas. Once that delusion is destroyed with right knowledge then there is no reason that jiva should suffer bondage.

Now one basic doubt is sensed by the disciple. If Mithyatva, ragas etc. are said to be manifestations of pudgala karma then why should jiva be penalised by their fruition. This is an important question which is answered in detail by acharya in gatha 87.

The Mithyatva, ragas etc. are of the form of pudgala karma paramanus known as dravya karma. On their fruition they generate bhavas of the form of Mithyatva, ragas etc. These bhavas are reflected into the knowledge of jiva just as an image of peacock is reflected by a mirror. Due to the clarity of Upayoga(consciousness) of jiva, the reflected bhavas appear to jiva as his own, just as one may think the peacock to be present in the mirror even though it is an image. The ignorant jiva cannot differentiate between his own upayoga and the bhavas of Mithyatva etc. and believes them  to be his own. This is known as bhava karma. The jiva is responsible for believing those bhavas to be his own hence he accrues bondage of karmas for future. If the jiva realises those bhavas to be fruition of karmas and not his own then he is said to have differentiating knowledge and can thus prevent accrual of karmas. Such jiva is said to be samyakdrishti.

The rest of this chapter is devoted to elaborating on various aspects of dravya karma and bhava karmas.

In gathas 88 and 89 Acharya defines three categories of manifestations which take place in pudgala karma which on fruition generate bhavas of same kind. These are Mithyadarshan(delusion), Avirati (negligence) and Agyan ( ignorance). Since beginningless time the jiva has been in association with pudgala karma hence he has been deluded without realisation of his own nature. These three kinds of karmas influence his upayoga similar to the effect of a coloured leaf kept behind a sapphire jewel. Just as the sapphire jewel changes its colour to red or yellow depending upon the colour of leaf, in the same way the upayoga of jiva undergoes transformation into delusion, negligence or ignorance. Now on account of his eternal ignorance jiva believes those bhavas to be his own and presuming ownership of those bhavas he acts accordingly. This leads to bondage of future karmas of same kind and in this manner the cycle continues. Therefore it is concluded in gatha 90 that the bhava in which he manifests,  he is owner of that bhava. Although from aspect of pure dravyarthika naya, he is not karta since it is not his true nature, but since his paryaya has manifested in such manner, therefore from impure dravyarthika naya he is karta.

Therefore in gatha 91, the converse is stated. Not only jiva upayoga manifests in accordance with fruition of karmas, the pudgala karmas also manifest in accordance with upayoga of jiva. This is how the endless cycle is created. In really both are doer of their own bhavas but from  aspect of nimitta-naimittik, they are responsible for bhavas of each other. Gatha 92 elaborates it further with an example. The experiences of raga-dwesha etc. are different from the experience of soul, just as heat or cold are different from the soul and are truly results of pudgala karmas. But on account of clarity of his knowledge, the ignorant jiva experiences them as his own and believes them to be his own. In the same way  he believes I am ragi, dweshi, krodhi etc. Thus he manifests in karta form.

How this process can be prevented is answered in Gatha 93. When jiva realises his own nature of knowledge then using that knowledge, he differentiates between self and others and then he knows raga-dwesha not to be his own just as heat or cold are not. He knows them to be consequences of pudgala karma manifestations. At that moment the soul is not karta, he is merely knower.

Gathas 94-96 elaborate the manner in which jiva manifests into ignorance form resulting in karma bondage. Firstly the ignorance of jiva is of three kinds on account of fruition of three types of karmas mentioned above. These are believing others to be his own, knowing them to be his own and remaining engaged in such bhavas (avirati). On account of such fruition the jiva manifests in two manners. In first type he manifests into corrupted bhavas of anger, greed, deceit etc. sixteen types of bhavas. In this manner he is karta of the corrupted manifestation of his own consciousness. In the second  type he believes the vikalpas (thoughts) of knowing various subjects to be his own e.g. ‘I am  akash’, ‘I am pudgala dravya’, ‘I am dharma dravya’ etc. At such moments he believes his knowledge to be just that without knowing the true undivided all-pervasive nature of knowledge. These are not true experiences of his knowledge and hence are corrupted forms. Thus in these two ways, the jiva manifests into ignorance forms.

Once the jiva has realised his true nature then he gives up the ownership of the corrupted bhavas (gatha 97) and engages in the experience of  knowledge which is of the consciousness form different from the taste of passions and vikalpas of various kinds. Then he manifests into nirvikalpa, natural, vigyan-ghan ( like a solid block of knowledge) form remaining akarta ( non doer).

 In gathas 98-99 acharya demolishes the beliefs of the people who believe in vyavahara and think that soul is doer of external acts of making pots, cloth etc, and internal acts of anger etc., and activities of body etc. The logic is that if soul engages in those acts then he should become one with them which does not happen since if that happens, his own existence would not remain. Therefore one dravya cannot be called as doer of another dravya.

An important revelation is made in 100^th gatha that just as soul is not doer of pot, anger etc. bhavas from aspect of pervasive-pervaded bhavas, he is not doer of them even by nimitta-naimittik bhavas. The reason is that if soul as dravya becomes nimitta for manifestation of pudgala karma then he would always need to be present for all the states of pudgala karma. This is not possible. Actually the yoga and upayoga of jiva in the form of paryayas which are transient, are nimitta for the manifestations of pudgala karmas. The yoga represents the vibration of spatial elements of soul under influence of a desire, and upayoga is the  engagement of knowledge  with passions. These only are nimitta for acts of pot, anger etc. Therefore in ignorant state soul can be called doer of yoga-upayoga.

To summarise, from aspect of dravya, no dravya is doer of another dravya; but from aspect of paryaya, the paryaya of some dravya can be nimitta for the paryaya of another dravya at some time hence from this aspect the manifestation of one dravya is said to be nimitta karta for the manifestation of another dravya. In reality dravya is karta of its own manifestations and other dravya cannot be karta for others manifestations.

Hence it is concluded in gatha 101 that gyani is karta of knowledge only. He is merely knower of the manifestations of pudgala dravya in  the form of gyanavarana etc. form eight type of karmas. This implies he remains knower of all the bhavas of anger, greed etc. and various other desires.

Now an important disclosure is made in Gathas 102-108, that even ignorant jiva is not doer of the bhava of other dravya. Soul is doer of the shubha or ashubha bhavas of his own, which is his karma and he is enjoyer of those bhavas.  In reality he is karta of his ignorance form whereas Gyani is karta of his knowledge form karma. But karta of other dravya’s bhava is neither gyani nor agyani. This is due to the unshakable principle of non-interference. No one dravya can cause other dravya to manifest or change its state. Hence even agyani cannot cause pudgala karma to manifest. The potter does not change the properties of mud nor he manifests in the form of pot hence he is not karta of pot. He is said to be maker of pot in Vyavahara sense only. In the same way the jiva is said to be karta of pudgala karmas in Vyavahara sense only. In reality his ignorance functions as nimitta for the independent manifestation of pudgala matter in karma form. Just as the fight amongst warriors is attributed to the king and it is said that the king was engaged in war even though he was not physically present. The principle declared in Gatha 76 is recalled again in 107 that soul lacks the capability of being  pervasive-pervaded in pudgala dravya. Hence he cannot generate, modify or receive pudgala karma. Therefore he does not change anything in pudgala karma. With the nimitta of soul’s manifestation  in ignorance form the pudgala karmas themselves manifest in eight type of karma forms and attach themselves to soul. Attributing it to soul is Vyavahara only. This topic is completed with one more example of king being described as responsible for the good or bad characteristics of his subjects from aspect of Vyavahara only. Though in reality he is not.

So the question arises that who is karta for the pudgala karma ? This is answered in gathas 109-112.

In reality pudgala dravya only is doer of pudgala karma. It  gets divided into four types of causal agents namely Mithyatva (delusion), Avirati (negligence), Kashaya (passions), and Yoga. They are called Pratyaya or Asravas in scriptures. Based upon their combinations, they get divided into thirteen categories which are known as Gunasthanas from Mithytva gunasthana to Sayogkevali Gunasthana. In Vyavahara,  these gunasthanas are attributed to jiva describing his spiritual progress. In reality they are due to fruition of pudgala karmas.

It is again reiterated in gathas 113-115 that the nature of jiva is upayoga (conscious activity) with which he has pervasive-pervaded relationship. If anger be also one with jiva then jiva would have oneness with ajiva dravya also. Then there would be no distinction between jiva and ajiva. Same argument holds for having oneness with body form nokarmas. Therefore from aspect of Nishchaya naya jiva and asravas do not have oneness.

 Gathas 116-125 are devoted towards the disciple having leaning towards Samkhya philosophy who believes world to comprise of two kinds of dravyas namely  Prakriti and Purush and believe them to be non- manifesting permanently the same.

Firstly it is established that both jiva dravya and pudgala dravya have  capability of manifesting independently because if it were not so then there would be no world and no requirement of salvation. But the world is directly seen hence it is not true.

Secondly it is established that they do not interfere with each other’s manifestations since if they cause others to manifest then it goes against the basic principle of independence of each dravya and the existence of dravyas themselves  would be forfeited. Therefore it proves that pudgala dravya itself manifests into form of karmas and attaches to jiva. Similarly Jiva himself manifests into form of anger etc. bhavas. This would be in consonance with the form of world observed in reality.

From these the conclusion is drawn in Gathas 126-127 that firstly whichever kind of bhava jiva indulges in, he is karta of those bhavas. Therefore gyani has bhavas of knowledge and agyani has bhavas of ignorance and for each of them they are  karta respectively. Secondly the agyani accrues karmas of same kind because of his bhavas while gyani does not accrue karmas since he remains knower only.

Now a question is asked that why do all the bhavas of gyani are of knowledge form and all the bhavas of agyani are of ignorance form?

This is answered in gathas 128-131 telling that out of ignorance form bhavas,  ignorance form bhavas only are produced i.e. they cannot cause generation of bhava of knowledge form. Conversely from the bhavas of knowledge nature the subsequent bhavas of knowledge form only are produced. This is demonstrated with the example of gold and iron. Out of gold all ornaments produced have nature of gold while the ornaments made with iron are of iron kind only. Iron does become gold or vice versa. As the saying goes, ‘As you sow, so you reap’ in the same way, the bhavas of agyani do not transgress the categories of moha, raga, dwesha etc. hence they remain of the same nature. While those of Gyani belong to category of knowledge only. However an important point has to be borne in mind. It does not mean that Gyani does not indulge in bhavas of anger etc. Here the discussion was primarily from aspect of darshan moha i.e. belief, but not from aspect of charitra moha i.e. conduct. The Gyani still has weakness of conduct of which he is aware of and keeps trying to overcome it. However his belief is unshaken hence he is aware of bhavas of anger etc. as not belonging to him. In this way he does not own those bhavas but only knows them. Therefore it is said that he does not accrue future bondage of those karmas.

Therefore Acharya summarises the subject which he had started in Gathas 109-112 regarding the karta of pudgala karma by means of five gathas 132-136 wherein he states that four types of ignorant bhavas are generated upon fruition of karmas  which influence the jivas to manifest in those bhavas forms. These bhavas are deemed to have a precondition of ignorance i.e. the Jiva does not have realisation of his true nature. These ignorant bhavas are of the nature of Mithyatva (delusion), Asanyam ( Lack of self control), Kashaya ( passions) and yoga which  cause the jiva to manifest in ignorance into bhavas of those nature and as a result he accrues karmas of same kind for future. These karmas are of eight kinds known as Gyanavaraniya, Darshanavaraniya, Mohaniya, Vedaniya, Ayukarma, Naam Karma, Gotra Karma and Antaraya karmas. A typical process scenario can be described in this manner. Fruition of Mithyatva karma causing Jiva to manifest in the form of non belief of tatvas which results in bondage of new pudgala in karma form. All these three activities are simultaneous and independent. This constitutes a cycle which can continue indefinitely till the jiva attain right knowledge.

Gathas 137-140 dispel the doubt that the jiva and pudgala can join together to manifest into karma forms. It is wondered that whether they can join together like lime and turmeric and result into red coloured form ? In answer it is clarified that it does not happen so. If it were true then Jiva would have manifested into Karma form pudgala or pudgala would have manifested into raga form like jiva but both  are not seen. Hence it establishes that both manifest independent of each other.

Now nearing the end of this chapter, a question is raised that whether soul is bonded and is in contact with karmas or whether soul is not bonded, nor in contact with karmas?

This is answered in Gatha 141 by means of naya principles. From aspect of vyavahara naya ajiva and pudgala are seen together in the same paryaya indistinguishable from each other hence jiva is bonded and is  in contact with karmas. However if they are observed from aspect of different dravyas then they are totally separate.

Now what ?

This is replied in Gathas 142-144 wherein this chapter is concluded and in a sense the entire gist of Samaysar has been brought out. What exactly is Samaysar has also been disclosed. Acharya says that both the contemplations that ‘jiva is bonded’ or ‘Jiva is not bonded’ are nonetheless vikalpas. The objective was to experience the soul in nirvikalpa form since that is the true experience of the bliss of the soul. Both the vikalpas lead to ragas and perturbation which cannot result into nirvikalpa state. Therefore knowing the two types of vikalpas, thus knowing the complete nature of soul, when one discards both together and remains knowing the true nature of reality, he only manifests in nirvikalpa state. It is this state which has been called Samaysar or pure soul in this book.

Acharya Amritchandra, at this juncture in his commentary offers obeisance to the spirit of renunciation of taking sides with either naya by means of 23 kalashs. In each he states that discarding the two types of opposing arguments, one who remains consciousness form self, he  experiences the true nature. Further he discloses an important information. The Kevali bhagwan has attained Keval gyan which know all simultaneously. Now in this gyan there is no consideration of aspects of naya since it is subject of shruta gyan only. He has gone beyond it so he does not take recourse to this gyan but he knows it. He remains observer of the two without getting involved and experiences his soul, in the same way the shruta gyani also manifests in nirvikalpa state discarding the consideration of either side and experiences his soul. The bottom line is that in this state the experience of shruta gyani is similar to that of Keval gyani in terms of detached state. This state only has been defined as Samaysar which is nothing but conjunction of Samyakdarshan and  Samyak gyan. The same is described with two names but they are one and the same.

To summarise, understanding the nature of soul by means of Agam (scripture) knowledge, then converging the sensory knowledge of Matigyan towards knowledge only , discarding the vikalpas of nayas of the form of shruta gyan and ultimately attaining nirvikalpa state experiencing the indivisible self is known as Samyak darshan and Samyak gyan which has also been called as Samayasar.

Concluding this chapter of Karta karma, Acharya reveals the golden principle that the one who is karta, he does not know and the one who knows, does not do. When the soul manifests in knowledge form then he remains knowledge form only and does not take ownership of pudgala karma. Pudgala also remains as pudgala and does not manifest into karma form. With such form of true knowledge, the two dravyas do  not manifest in nimitta-naimittik  form. Such is the state of Samyak drishti.

In this chapter, jiva and Ajiva had entered the stage taking the disguise of karta-karma. The ignorant ones cannot distinguish between the two and  believes self to be doer of karmas. However samyak drishti with his right knowledge distinguishes them differently, then the two leave the stage accepting defeat.

Continued………