Sunday, November 21, 2021

The Essence of Pravachansar ...13

 

Next it is preached in Gatha 236 that belief in the Tatvas based upon the knowledge of Agam and the knowledge-belief based samyam – in this manner the trio of knowledge, belief and samyam alone is Moksha Marg. ‘In this lok, the one who lacks vision(belief)  based upon Agam, he cannot attain Samyam’ – this has been stated in Sutra. Further the one who is Asamyat (lacking self control), how can he be shraman ?

Those jivas who are devoid of the Drishti (belief ) based upon Tatvarth Shraddhan ( belief in seven Tatvas) derived from Syadvad form knowledge of Agam, for them the Samyam (abstinence) also cannot exist since they cannot differentiate between self and others. Due to this these jivas believe the body and passions to be same as self and without restraints upon the sensual desires, they indulge in violence towards jivas of six body forms. Therefore they do not have restraints of any kind.

Secondly due to lack of knowledge of Paramatma, their knowledge of the subjects of knowledge is meaningless and sequential ; therefore they do not have capability to concentrate upon the soul substance. For this reason also they cannot attain Samyam. This disproves the feasibility of their attaining shramanhood which is of the nature of focussed manifestation, which is also known as Moksha marg. From the above the rule can be derived that knowledge of the Agam, Tatvartha Shraddhan (belief of seven tatvas) and Samyam- the trio of these only is Moksha Marg.

Conversely it is established in Gatha 237 that in the absence of Agam Gyan, Tatvartha Shraddhan and Samyam, the Moksha Marg cannot materialise. If belief in the nature of substances does not exist as described in Agam then salvation cannot be attained. Further without Samyam, even those who believe in the nature of substances, cannot attain salvation.

In spite of knowing all the substances clearly by means of Agam, if someone does not realise the knowledge form soul then he is devoid of the belief of the soul and hence cannot experience it. Without experience of the soul what can the jiva engaged in knowing of subjects of knowledge, achieve ? What can Agam do for such an ignorant Jiva? Therefore it is definite that in spite of having knowledge of Agam, if there is no belief, then nothing can be achieved.

Secondly, even after having belief in the soul and experiencing the same , if the person does not have control within himself, then due to lack of control on moha, raga, dwesha , the jiva cannot attain concentration of the mind and therefore cannot be samyat (restrained). With lack of abstinence he cannot attain salvation. Thus it establishes that in spite of having knowledge and belief if conduct is not there then objective of salvation cannot be achieved.

To summarise, the unity of samyakdarshan, samyak gyan and samyak charitra are essential for attainment of salvation.

Gatha 238 tells that even after having the three together as described above, the essential cause is knowledge of the soul only. The karmas which are destroyed by ignorants in lakhs and crores of birth, the same karmas are destroyed by Gyani by engaging in control of three yogas (mind-speech-body) within a period of one breath itself.

The karmas which are acquired by Agyani due to his childish tapa, raga-dwesha which sequentially give rise to subsequent karmas, are destroyed by lot of difficulty in lakhs and crores of births. Same karmas, the gyani jiva having unity of samyak darshan-gyan-charitra resulting in experience of pure soul, whose activities of mind-speech-body have stopped with supreme abstinence, thus free of all forms of corruption, destroys within a short while of few breaths only.

While for the Agyani,  due to his manifestations in sukh-dukh forms the previous karmas keep giving birth to new karmas ; on the other hand for the gyani, without manifesting in sukh-dukh forms, the karmas do not give birth to new karmas.

Therefore Atma Gyan is the real means for Moksha Marg.

Further it is reiterated in Gatha 239 that for the one devoid of Atma Gyan, the trio of Agam Gyan, Tatvarth shraddhan (belief in 7 tatvas) and  abstinence cannot do anything. If someone has even an iota of ownership (attachment) towards body etc. then even if he is knowledgeable of all the Agams, he cannot attain the Siddhi (objective).

A person who has complete knowledge of the Agam, who knows his own soul knowing all the dravyas and their paryayas, who believes and follows abstinence, thereby follows the trio of samyak darshan-gyan-charitra in unified manner; now if on account of moha, if he has even an iota of attachment towards body etc. then he cannot experience the pure knowledge form soul in his Upayoga and hence he remains tied to the stake of moha and cannot get rid of karmas.

The message is that without knowledge of the soul, the trio of agam gyan, tatvartha shraddhan, conduct  are of no use.

Therefore in 240th Gatha the trio as described above is practiced along with Atma gyan. That Shraman is called Samyat ( disciplined) who is accompanied with five Samiti (disciplines), has  control of five senses, practices three Gupti (restraints), is conqueror of passions, and is complete with darshan-gyan.

In this manner, the person who was already having samyak darshan and samyak gyan, has attained stationary state within own nature. He is practicing five Samiti and three guptis. With the control of five senses the activities of mind-speech-body have been subdued. Further with the destruction of passions he is experiencing his own nature. Such a person has attained total Veetrag state within own self hence he is real Muni or Samyat. For him the trio of Agam gyan, tatvartha shraddhan and Samyat state is accomplished along with Atma gyan. 

The characteristics of such a Samyat who has attained the trio along with Atma gyan are described in Gatha 241. For him enemy and friend are the same, sukh and dukh are the same, has equanimity towards praise or defamation, for whom gold and lump of mud are the same, has equanimity towards life and death, such a person is Shraman.

Samyam is conduct accompanied with samyak darshan-gyan. Conduct is dharma and dharma is equanimity. Equanimity is manifestation of soul without moha or perturbation. Therefore Samyat is characterised by equanimity.

For him (1) the friend and enemy are the same (2) Sukh- dukh are the same (3) praise or defamation are equal (4) lump of mud and gold are same (5) life and death are equal. In this way with lack of Moha, there is no occurrence of raga-dwesha and he continues to experience the pure darshan-gyan natured soul. All the above are known as subjects of knowledge without any differences and he remains stationary within knowledge form soul. This should be known as characteristics of Samyat for whom the Atma gyan has appeared along with the trio of samyak darshan-gyan-charitra.

Further it is told in Gatha 242 that this alone is Moksha Marg which is also known as Shraman-hood with concentration. The one who is engaged in  Darshan, Gyan and Charitra together, he has attained concentration. Thus it is told in scriptures. His Shraman-hood is complete.

The realisation of  Gyeya Tatva ( subject of knowledge) and Gyan Tatva (Knowledge of the subject), as they are, is Samyak darshan Paryaya. The experience of the Gyeya Tatva and Gyan Tatva , as they are is Samyak Gyan Paryaya. Manifestation within own self devoid of activities of gyeya and Gyan is Samyak Charitra Paryaya. The manifestation of soul within these three together is the state of Samyat which is also known as Shraman with concentration. This alone is Moksha marga. Here there is several-ness on account of samyak darshan-gyan-charitra but at the same time there is one-ness which is of the soul in concentrated form.

This Shraman form Moksha Marg is described from aspect of  paryaya based Vyavahara naya as ‘samyak darshan-gyan-charitra  is moksh marg’ which is a differentiated form. In non differentiated form it is described as ‘ Oneness is Moksha Marg’ which is from the aspect of Dravya based Nishchaya naya. Since all the substances are differentiated-undifferentiated in nature, both of these can be described from aspect of Praman as “samyak darshan-gyan-charitra and oneness is Moksha marg”

The Moksha Marg Pragyapan Adhikar is now concluding. Hence the summary of the entire chapter  presented in next two Gathas 243-244 is that oneness alone is Moksha marg and several-ness is not Moksha marg. If the shraman indulges in moha, raga or dwesha  and being agyani takes recourse to another dravya, then he accrues different kinds of karmas.

On the other hand if the Shraman does not indulge in moha, raga, dwesha , then surely he destroys various karmas.

Here oneness implies contemplating upon the knowledge form own soul as the sole subject. If he does not do so, then surely he contemplates of other subjects of knowledge form dravyas. Taking recourse to them he gets corrupted from the knowledge of knowledge form soul, thus being agyani he indulges in raga-dwesha-moha ; thus he accrues bondage only and does not attain salvation.

Therefore without oneness i.e. with several-ness the Moksha marg cannot be attained.

On the other hand the one who contemplates only of the knowledge form soul as the subject, without taking recourse to any other subject of knowledge, thus without getting corrupted, remaining in knowledge form, without indulging in raga, dwesha, moha, he attains salvation only and does not get bonded.

Therefore oneness alone leads to Moksha Marg.

This concluded Moksha Marga Pragyapan.

                        Shubhopayoga Pragyapan Adhikar ( Knowledge of the Shubhopayoga)

                                                            (Gatha 245-270)

Gatha 245 begins with description of shubhopayoga. Firstly it is told that for the Shramans , shubhopayoga is secondary. In the scriptures it is told that Shuddhopayogis are Shramans. However Shubhopayogis also could be Shraman. While shuddhopayogi are without asrava ( influx of karmas), the shubhopayogis are with asrava.

In Paramagam it has been told that Shuddhopayogi are Shraman while Shubhopayogi are also Shraman in a minor way. Just as from aspect of Nishchaya, the Shuddha Buddha (knowledgeable) -singular natured Siddhas only are called Jivas while from aspect of Vyavahara Ashuddha jivas transmigrating in four Gatis are also called Jivas.  In the same way, in Shramans the shuddhopayogi jivas are primary while shubhopayogi jivas are secondary. This is so because the Shuddhopayogi   jivas are free of Asrava  being engaged in spirit of  own pure soul and therefore free of contemplations of Shubha or ashubha. On the other hand though the shubhopayogis are free of Mithyatva etc. passion form ashubhopayoga and thereby ashubha asrava, they still have presence of punya asrava.

The Characteristics of Shubhopayogi shraman are described in Gatha 246. If the Shraman is engaged in reverence towards Arihant etc. and affection towards other jivas engaged in preachment etc.  then being engaged in Shubha conduct he is Shubhopayogi.

Being incapable of manifesting in pure soul form alone, the Shraman who engages in reverence towards Arihant etc. and is affectionate towards the other jivas who are followers of Agam and therefore does not have a steady state; that Shraman has Shubhopayogi conduct since his pure soul manifestation is mixed with engagement towards other dravyas i.e. Shubha bhavas.

The nature of Shubhopayogi Shraman is described in Gatha 247. Offering obeisance- salutation to other Shramans, standing up in their honour, following them, having reverent attitude towards them, offering pious service  to them, are not condemned even though they are raga form activities.

Shubhopayogis have affectionate conduct towards Shuddha Atma jivas. Therefore towards such Shramans  who have manifested in pure soul form, the practices of reverence, salutations, standing up, following, respecting etc. and pious service to remove their tiredness so as to engage in pure soul manifestations, are not objectionable activities for the Shubhopayogis.

Further it is told in Gatha 248 that Shubhopayogis only engage in such activities. Preachment of Samyak Darshan, Samyak Gyan, acceptance of students and their maintenance, preachment of pooja of Jinendra etc. are actually activities of people with raga.

Engagement in preachment of  darshan-gyan to benefit others, accepting students and taking care of them, Jinendra Pooja etc. are carried out by Shubhopayogis only and not Shuddhopayogis.

Therefore it is declared in Gatha 249 that such activities are carried out by Shubhopayogis only. Those Shramans who are always benefactors of the four types of Shraman Sanghs (groups) who are always engaged in protecting six kinds of body forms , they have predominance of raga.

There are four types of Shraman Sangh (groups) who take vows of Samyam (abstinence) involving protection of six kinds of body forms. These are Rishi, Muni, Yati and Sadhu. For the protection of their manifestations in pure soul state, the practices of benefaction are undertaken by Shubhopayogis only who have predominance of raga. Shuddhopayogis would  not indulge in them at all.

On the other hand the activities of the Shubhopayogi should not be opposite to that of Samyam as told in Gatha 250. If the Shraman, for the purpose of providing pious services harms six kind of body forms then he is not a shraman but a householder since such activities are undertaken by householders.

The Shraman, who with the intent of protecting other Shramans pure soul manifestations process undertakes pious services for them and harms his own Samyam, he degrades himself to the status of householder from that of Shraman. Hence it is advised that only such activities should be undertaken which do not go against the principles of Samyam.

Further it is told in Gatha 251 that for whom the Shubhopayogi should be the benefactor and whom they should not. Even though  it involves minor transgression, even then one should be benefactor by means of shubhopayoga  for the Jains engaged in Sakar-Anakar ( gyan -darshan) practices with compassion  impartially.

Although benefaction activities  with compassion involves minor transgression, even then (1) for the benefit of pure Jains who are engaged in gyan-darshan form activities of pure soul  (2) if the activities enable attainment of pure soul, then they are permitted for the Shubhopayogis. On the other hand, in spite of the fact that only minor transgression is entailed in compassionate benefaction activities, even then (1) for others, other than pure Jains engaged in gyan-darshan form activities of pure soul and (2) for any other purpose other than attainment of pure soul, those activities  should not be undertaken by Shubhopayogis; since in this way the own pure soul manifestations of self or others are not protected.

It is also told in Gatha 252 that when  the Shraman Shubhopayogi can undertake the activities and when he should not. On seeing the Shraman afflicted with tiredness, disease, hunger or thirst, the Sadhu should undertake VaiyaVritya (pious services) in accordance with his capabilities.  

When the shraman manifesting in the form of pure soul  is prevented to do so on account of some calamity then such time is the time for Shubhopayogi to assist him within his capabilities. At other times he should be engaged in his own efforts for attainment of pure soul manifestations. 

To be Concluded :

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