Preface
Ashta Pahud is a compilation of eight of the Pahuds or
presentations of Shri Kunda Kundacharya. Even Samaysar is known as Samay Pahud
which is a presentation on pure soul. However Ashta Pahud is more of a
compilation of different Sutras or directions pertaining to eight of the
subjects . Overall written in 502 gathas, this creation directs one to be aware
of the right conduct to be followed in respect of different subjects. These
subjects are Darshan (right belief), Sutra (right path), Charitra ( right
conduct), Bodh ( forms of temple, sadhu etc.) Bhava ( right spirit), Moksha (
means and the form of Moksha), Ling ( attire and attitude of Sadhu), Sheel (
morality). Thus we find that these sutras provide a wealth of knowledge on how
a follower of the Jaina path is expected to behave, perform, conduct and
practice. Quite a few of them are popularly quoted to provide guidance for the
followers.
The gathas by themselves are simple and easy to understand. However they have not been translated word by word. Essential meaning is also incorporated in the Gathas. There are a lot of words related to conduct which have not been translated for want of suitable English word. It is better to understand them as Hindi words only. A brief explanation is provided wherever required.
1
Darshan Pahud
Gatha 1. Acharya
says that offering obeisance to first Tirthankara Shri Rishabh Deva and last
Tirthankara Vardhaman, I shall state the path of philosophy in brief in proper
order.
The root of dharma is darshan (belief) therefore those who
are devoid of darshan should not be venerated :
Gatha 2. Shri Jinendra Bhagwan has preached the dharma
having the roots of darshan for the benefit of Ganadhar etc. disciples.
Therefore O Bhavyas ! Listen to that dharma having the roots of darshan and do
not offer obeisance to those who are devoid of Samyak Darshan.
Just as a tree without root cannot have trunk, branches,
flowers and fruits; in the same way those who do not have darshan cannot have
dharma.
Now it is told that without internal Samyak Darshan,
external conduct does not lead to Nirvana:
Gatha 3. Those who are corrupted in Samyak Darshan, they
are corrupt only. Since those whose Samyak Darshan is destroyed, do not attain
Moksha. Those who have lost their quality of Charitra (conduct) but have not
lost Samyak Darshan, they can regain Charitra and attain Moksha but those who
have lost Samyak Darshan can never attain Moksha.
If the branches of a tree are cut, but the roots are intact,
then branches would grow again soon and it would yield fruits. But if the roots
are lost then the branches cannot sustain. In the same way the root of dharma
should be known to be Darshan.
Those who are corrupted in Samyak Darshan and have wide
knowledge of scriptures; they still wander in the endless world. Thus Darshan
is more relevant than Gyan:
Gatha 4. Those who have not acquired the jewel in the
form of Samyak Darshan, in spite of knowing different kind of scriptures,
without practicing four types of Aradhana (adorations), they keep wandering in
this four Gatis form world.
In spite of being expert in literature and scriptures,
without having darshan, they wander in the four gati form endless world. The
knowledge without Samyak darshan is not recognised as Aradhana.
Those who practice tapa but do not have Samyaktva, they do
not realise themselves:
Gatha 5. Those who are devoid of Samyaktva (right
belief), even if they practice rigorous Tapa for thousand crore years, even then
they cannot attain jewel trio ( samyak darshan-gyan-charitra).
Here the term thousand crores just signifies endless
duration.
Now it is told that along with Samyaktva, all activities are
successful:
Gatha 6. Those people who are attaining enhancement of their
qualities of Samyaktva, Gyan, darshan, bala ( power), Veerya ( strength) etc.
and are devoid of the impure Pap of this KaliYuga (fifth period of time) , in a
short while only they would attain highest knowledge i.e. they would become
omniscient.
In this fifth period of time, on account of deviousness of
the people the true path has been distorted. However those Jivas who are
unaffected by it and follow the Jina Marg with right belief and knowledge
without hiding their capabilities, they attain Moksha shortly.
The stream of water of the form of Samykatva does not permit
karma dust to adhere to the soul:
Gatha 7. The person in whose heart Samyaktva form stream is always continuously flowing,
there the obscuration due to karma dust does not take place and previously bonded karma dust also gets washed away.
The person having Samyaktva does not have ownership of the
raga etc. form bhavas generated due to fruition of karmas, hence he does not
gather karma dust, just as a stream of water prevents gathering of dust.
Further he does not accrue future bondage.
Those who are corrupted in Darshan, they are corrupted in
Gyan-Charitra also. They themselves are anyway corrupted, they corrupt others
also:
Gatha 8. Those people who are devoid of all the
qualities of Darshan, Gyan and Charitra, they are completely corrupted. With
their preachment they corrupt others also.
Those who do not have Darshan-Gyan-Charitra, they are
autocratic without restraints hence with their preachment they corrupt others therefore
one should avoid their company.
Not only they are corrupt, they blame other Dharmatma also
as being corrupt:
Gatha 9. If some Dharmatma person has acquired the
qualities of Sanyam (restraint), Tapa (penance), Niyam ( discipline) and Yoga
etc., then finding flaws with his qualities, other Papi persons who themselves
are corrupted, wish to corrupt other Dharmatmas
also.
If some Dharmatma is practicing dharma with Sanyam, Tapa,
Niyam and Yoga etc., the other Papi people find faults with him and blame him
for corruption. Hence one should avoid their company.
The one who is corrupted in Darshan is corrupt in the roots
hence he cannot sustain fruits:
Gatha 10. Just as with the destruction of roots of a
tree, its branches, leaves, fruits and flowers etc. do not grow, in the same way
for the person who is devoid of the belief in Jain principles and whose primary
dharma has been destroyed, he never can attain Moksha form results.
Just as a tree without roots cannot flourish and yield
flowers or fruits, in the same way a person without darshan, even though he has
adopted the attire of Muni and carries out all external activities accordingly,
without realistic realisation of the soul cannot attain Moksha.
The Jina Darshan only is the primary Moksha Marg:
Gatha 11. Just as from the roots of a tree, large trunk
is generated having lots of qualities of branches, leaves, fruits, flowers
etc., in the same way the root cause of Moksha Marga is belief in Jina dharma –
thus has been told by Ganadhar Devas.
Here the Jina Dharma with 28 primary qualities is being
stressed which a Muni follows without any blemish. Those who are corrupted from
it , they are corrupted from the original path and cannot attain Moksha.
Those who are corrupted from Samyak Darshan and desire other
Samyak Drishtis to offer them obeisance, they
accrue poor Gatis :
Gatha 12. Those
Mithyadrishti people who make Samyakdrishti Jivas to bow in their feet, are
born as mute and lame in future births. For them to attain jewel trio in future
is extremely difficult.
Those MithyaDrishtis who desire other Samyak Drishtis to
offer them obeisance, they have strong Mithyatva with the result that they would be born as
lame and mute i.e. they would take birth as one sensed Jiva in Nigod. It would
take infinite period to come out of it to attain five sensed state.
Those who offer obeisance to people corrupted from darshan
also become like them:
Gatha 13. Those people who are adorned with Darshan and knowing the people corrupted from darshan as
Mithyadrishti, still offer obeisance to them out of fear, shame or status, then
they too do not attain jewel trio for supporting pap and thus they too are
MithyaDrishti.
If one offers obeisance to MithyaDrishti out of fear, shame or
his status, then he is endorsing Mithyatva, then he himself cannot be Samyak
Drishti.
The form of true
Darshan is described:
Gatha 14. Where both internal and external possessions
are renounced, Sanyam (restraints) is practiced with pure mind, speech and
body, the knowledge is not corrupted in the sense of doing, getting done or endorsing
the deed, the food is partaken in standing posture; darshan in the form of such
body is worthy of adoration.
Here the idol of Darshan is described wherein the external
attire is pure and internal bhavas are also purified. Such a form is worthy of
obeisance, other hypocritical forms
should not be venerated.
Samyak Darshan only decides what is good and what is bad:
Gatha 15. Samyak Darshan leads to Samyak Gyan and with
Samyak Gyan the form of all the substances is known in reality and with the
knowledge of substances the Jiva starts recognising his own good or bad.
With Samyak Darshan only the real nature of substances is
realised and then only one knows what is beneficial or harmful for him. Thus
for realising the true path, Samyak Darshan only is the primary means.
What is the consequence of knowing good or bad:
Gatha 16. Identifying the paths of benevolence and harmful
nature, the person destroys the Mithyatva nature and embraces the Samyaktva
nature. With the benefit of Samyaktva only, attaining Tirthankara etc. such
glories he attains Nirvana in the end.
Realising the right and the wrong path, the Mithyatva nature
is discarded and it is transformed into Samyaktva nature. With the accrual of
punya bondage, subsequently he attains status of Tirthankara etc. and attains
Moksha.
Such Samyaktva is attained by means of the words of Jina
hence they are the ones causing removal of miseries:
Gatha 17. The
words of Jin Bhagwan are medicine for negating the sensual desires. Further they are like nectar
for curing diseases of birth, death,
old age etc. and destruction of all miseries.
In this world all jivas engage in sensual subjects resulting
in karma bondage which causes the birth-death-old age etc. form of miseries.
With the consumption of medicine in the form of words of Jina, the desires are
eliminated and karma bondage gets destroyed leading to end of worldly miseries.
Hence one should adopt Jina words as nectar.
How many forms of attires are accepted in Darshan as per the
words of Jina?:
Gatha 18. Jina order has declared only three attires. The
first is Nirgranth Ling ( naked form), same as that of Jinendra Deva. The second is that of
supreme Shravak and third is that of Aryika (women). There is no fourth attire
other than these.
The attire is known as Ling, which as per the dictates of
Jina Darshan are only of three forms. One is same as that of Jina Deva, second
is that of eleventh Pratima (vows) holder Shravak and third is that of women in
Aryika form. No other Ling is accepted.
With such external Ling, the internal belief should also be
commensurate with that, for the Samyak
Drishti:
Gatha 19. Six dravyas, Nine Padarthas, Five Astikayas and
Seven Tatvas have been described in Jain scriptures. Those who have right faith
in them should be known to be Samyak Drishti.
Beliefs in the forms of six Dravyas (Jiva, Pudgala, Dharma,
Adharma, Akash, Kaal), nine Padarthas ( Jiva, Ajiva, Asrava, Bandh, Samvar,
Nirjara, Moksha, Punya and Pap) , five astikayaas ( five dravyas without kaal),
seven tatvas ( seven Padarthas without punya, pap) is Samyak Darshan.
Further Samyaktva is of two kinds in the form of Vyavahara and Nishchaya :
Gatha 20. Jinendra Bhagwan has told the belief in Jivas
etc. form seven Tatvas to be Vyavahara Samyak darshan. Faith in only pure soul
is Nishchaya Samyak darshan.
Belief in the words of Jina as described in Gatha 19th
is described as Vyavahara Samyaktva while belief, experience, interest and
conduct in own nature of soul is Nishchaya Samyaktva. Thus Samyaktva is not
different from own soul and in reality the manifestation of soul only.
Thus Samyak Darshan alone is essence of all qualities which
should be adopted:
Gatha 21. In
this way the Samyak darshan described by Jina Bhagwan is the supreme jewel out
of jewel-trio and the first step towards the Moksha palace. Hence O Bhavya
Jivas ! Accept this Samyak darshan with internal adoration.
Acharya says that adopt this Samyak Darshan with internal
spirit and not with external pretensions. The internal adoration only is cause
for Moksha.
The one who has faith, he only attains Samyaktva:
Gatha 22. To whatever extent the capability to accept
Charitra (conduct) is there, it should be adopted and rest should be venerated.
This is so since Jina Bhagwan has told the one having veneration to be having
Samyak Darshan.
Ideally when one realises the nature of the world and all
other dravyas then he should become Muni and follow the requisite conduct.
However due to fruition of Charitra Mohaniya karma, this may not be possible.
Then one should follow to the extent possible and rest he should venerate.
Those who are stationary within such Darshan-Gyan-Charitra ,
they are venerable:
Gatha 23. Those
who are completely immersed in darshan, gyan, charitra, tapa and Vinay (respect);
who venerate the Ganadhar etc. Acharyas, practitioners of Aradhanas
(veneration); they alone are worthy of respect.
Those who are corrupted in respect of Darshan etc. and do
not pay respect to the followers out of jealousy etc., they are not worthy of
respect.
Those who notice the Digamber form ( new born attire) but do
not pay respect out of jealous instincts, are Mithya Drishti only:
Gatha 24. Those who do not offer salutations out of envy
to the Digamber(naked) form of Jinendra Bhagwan, even if they are practicing Sanyam, they are Mithya Drishti
only.
Those who notice the new-born attire of Munis but do not
offer salutations, then it implies that they do not have respect and interest
towards the same. This indicates Mithyatva only.
The same is strengthened further next:
Gatha 25. In spite of observing the form of Jineshwara
which is adorned with morality and is
worshipped by Devas, those who pretend to be important, they too are devoid of
Samyaktva.
Even the Devas bow in the feet of such Digamber form with
respect and in spite of observing them if they do not offer salutations due to
jealous instincts, then they lack Samyaktva only.
It is told that Asanyami should not be offered salutations:
Gatha 26. Asanyami ( one without restraints) should not
be offered salutations and the one adopting externally naked form but is devoid
of Bhava form Sanyam also should not be offered salutations. Both of them are
devoid of Sanyam and hence are equal.
The householder is anyway Asanyami, but even the one who has
naked external attire but lacks the Bhava Sanyam then he too is declared as
Asanyami and both should not be offered salutations.
A question is asked that one cannot know the internal Bhavas
then how should one proceed? The answer is that in the beginning on observing
the external form one can offer salutations till one could detect the true
nature. Then he should not offer salutations.
The same meaning is strengthened further:
Gatha 27. No body
offers salutations to the body as well as superior kula (family) and caste.
Without having qualities of Samyak darshan etc. nobody offers salutations,
since without these qualities one cannot be Muni or Shravak.
Those without qualities are not venerated. Just with
handsome body, superior kula or caste, one is not venerable. In Moksha Marg the
Darshan-Gyan-Charitra qualities only are venerable.
Those who are engaged in Tapa etc., I offer salutations to
them:
Gatha 28. (Acharya Kunda Kunda says) I offer obeisance to
Sadhus practicing Tapa, their morality, their qualities, Bramhacharya
(celibacy) with shuddha bhava adorned with Samyaktva. Since with those
qualities of theirs i.e. Shuddha bhava adorned with Samyaktva leads to Moksha,
the main objective.
Earlier it was told that qualities and not the body is worthy of offering obeisance, now those
qualities are venerated. Here qualities indicate the primary qualities while
morality etc. are secondary qualities. The Bramhacharya represents the
immersion in own soul nature.
To a doubt if Tirthankara with several glories like
samosharan etc. are venerable or not, it is told next that those glories are a
result of greatness of Tapa performed with Samyaktva:
Gatha 29. Who is adorned with sixty four Chamaras
(flywhisk), thirty four excellences, always preaching for the benefit of
mankind and cause for destruction of karmas, such Tirthankara supreme Deva is
worthy of offering obeisance.
The Samosharan etc. glories are created by Indra etc. form
devotees and Tirthankara is detached with respect to all of them. Hence due to his qualities he is
venerable.
Who is eligible for Moksha? :
Gatha 30. With the comibination of four qualities of
Gyan, darshan, tapa and charitra, the sanyam is attained and with that only Moksha
is attained. Thus it has been told in Jina order.
Further the sequential importance of these qualities are
described:
Gatha 31. For the mankind, Gyan is paramount and more
than Gyan, Samyak darshan is paramount. Since with Samyaktva only the Gyan
becomes Samyak gyan and Charitra becomes Samyak Charitra. With Charitra only
Nirvana is attained.
Charitra leads to Nirvana and Charitra is real only with knowledge which itself is true
when Samyaktva is present. Hence firstly Samyaktva is essential and then Gyan
and Charitra are meaningful. Although Gyan enables knowing things hence
knowledge is also essential but without Samyaktva it is not said to be
meaningful. Know this.
Same is strengthened further next:
Gatha 32. With the combination of Gyan, darshan, performing
Tapa with samyktva and Charitra, these
four only, Jivas have attained Siddhahood. There is no doubt about it.
Those who have attained Siddhahood is only with the
combination of Samyaktva, Gyan, Charitra and Tapa; there is no doubt about it.
The jewel of the form of Samyaktva is invaluable, which is
venerated by Devas and Asuras both:
Gatha 33. Jivas acquire the tradition of benediction i.e.
state of Tirthankara by means of pure Samyaktva. Therefore the Samyak darshan
form jewel is worshipped by Devas, Asuras, mankind all in this Lok.
With absolute purity of Samyaktva i.e. without impurities of
twenty five kinds, the state of Tirthankara benedictory to mankind is attained.
Hence such Samyaktva form jewel is worshipped by all jivas of the lok i.e.
Devas, Asuras and humans all.
Those who attain human form having superior Gotra and then
with Samyktva attain Moksha; all this is the glory of Samyaktva only:
Gatha 34. This
Jiva after acquiring human form with high gotra (family) and then attaining
Samyak darshan attains indestructible pleasure form Keval Gyan and subsequently
Moksha.
All this represents glory of Samyaktva.
To a question that with Samyaktva they attain Moksha
immediately or they stay for sometime also? This is answered as follows:
Gatha 35. After attaining Keval Gyan, having 1008
characteristics and 34 excellences, so long as Jinendra Bhagwan traverses in this Lok, for that long his image along
with body is referred to as Sthavar Pratima.
So long as Tirthankara continue to traverse in the world for
addressing the Jivas for their benefit, he is said to be Sthavar Pratima. Later
after Moksha the same is installed for worshipping in the form of metal or
stone.
Destroying the karmas he attains Moksha:
Gatha 36. Destroying all the karmas appropriately by
means of twelve kinds of tapa, discarding the body with disdain, he attains the
state beyond which there is no other state i.e. Nirvana.
After Nirvana, within one samaya he traverses to the peak of the Lok and then stay there
forever.
Thus in this Pahud the importance of Samyak Darshan has been
described.
Continued…..
No comments:
Post a Comment