Ashta Pahud….11

 

The reasons for Bandh and Moksha are briefly described:

Gatha 13. The Jiva who has attachment towards other substances , he accrues various types of karmas. The one who is indifferent towards other substances, he does not accrue various types of karmas. In this way Jinendra Bhagwan has preached the form of Bandh and Moksha in brief.

Attachment towards the other dravyas is cause for Bandh while detachment is the means for Moksha. This in brief is the preachment of Jinendra Bhagwan.

Those engaged in own dravya are Samyakdrishti and they destroy the karmas:

Gatha 14. The Muni who is immersed within his own soul and realises the nature of it, he is SamyakDrishti as a rule. That Muni with  manifestations in the form of Samyaktva, destroys the evil eight karmas.

This is brief description of means for destruction of eight types of karmas which lead to Nirvana.

Those who are engaged in other dravyas, accrue karma bondage being Mithyadrishti:

Gatha 15. The Muni who engages in raga towards wife, children etc. other substances, he  is MithyaDrishti. With manifestations of the form of Mithyatva that Muni accrues the evil eight karmas.

Here the essence is that even if someone has accepted Munihood with Nirgranth state, if he has not relinquished the raga etc. then they remain Mithyadishti and accrue karmas.

Further it is told that the other dravyas lead to birth in lowly states:

Gatha 16. With attachment towards other substances, one takes birth in lowly Gati while with attraction towards own soul, one accrues decent Gati. Knowing this O Bhavya Jiva! Have affection towards own soul, and do not indulge in raga towards other substances.

Attachment towards other dravyas lead to miseries and sufferings hence Acharya has briefly preached to engage in affection towards own soul nature.

Disciple enquires the form of other dravyas. Acharya replies:

Gatha 17. Sentient objects like wife, sons etc. which are different from the nature of the soul, insentient substances like money, grains etc., and wife, children etc.  with ornaments etc. are mixed objects which are all other dravyas. This is the true form of other dravyas as told by Omniscient Bhagwan.

Other than the knowledge natured soul, all other sentient, insentient objects are other dravyas.

The soul is called as own dravya as follows:

Gatha 18. The one who is free of painful eight karmas, incomparable having body of the form of knowledge, indestructible and pure, such soul has been described as own Dravya by Jinendra Bhagwan.

Non corporeal, blissful, knowledge form soul is the only own dravya and rest all are other dravyas in mixed sentient, insentient forms.

Those who meditate upon such own dravya attain Nirvana:

Gatha 19. Those Munis who contemplate of the own soul relinquishing all other substances, they have pure conduct and following the path of Jineshwaras, they attain Moksha.

Renouncing all other substances they meditate upon their own nature; they definitely engage in Jina Marg in conduct form and attain Moksha.

It is reiterated that if the Yogi can attain Moksha with contemplation of pure soul, then can he not attain Swarga? Surely he can:

Gatha 20. Following the path of Jina Bhagwan, the Yogi contemplates of the pure soul, due to which he attains Moksha. Would he not attain Swarga Lok with that contemplation of soul? Surely he would.

Somebody may doubt that with the meditation of soul one gets Moksha but not Swarga. To them it is clarified that Swarga Lok lies enroute to Moksha only.

Same meaning is substantiated further:

Gatha 21. The person who walks 100 Yojans ( 400 kosh)  carrying a heavy load in one day, can he not walk half a kosh on the ground. Surely he can.

With example it is reiterated that if one can attain Moksha then Swarga only lies enroute.

With another example it is strengthened:

Gatha 22. The warrior who can not be defeated by a crore warriors in battle, can he be conquered by one man? Surely not.

The one who proceeds on Moksha Marg destroys all karmas then would he not be destroying pap karmas which prevent attainment of Swarga ? Surely he would be.

Therefore it is told that with Shubha Raga form tapa, many people attain Swarga but with Yoga of the form of Dhyan they not only attain Swarga but also Moksha:

Gatha 23. Everyone attains Swarga on account of Tapa but the one who attains Swarga due to Dhyan, he attains indestructible blissful  form Moksha in other Lok.

Lot of  practitioners of tapa, on account of weak passions attain Swarga. However those who practice dhyan as prescribed in Jina Marg, they not only attain Swarga but also Moksha.

With example the attainment of Moksha with Dhyan is reiterated:

Gatha 24. Just as in conjunction with right  material for purification, gold ore becomes pure gold, in the same way in conjunction with right dravya, kshetra, kaal, bhaav etc. the worldly jiva becomes Paramatma.

Next it is now told that vrita and tapa lead to Swarga which is superior than non vrita etc. which result in Narak:

Gatha 25. It is better to attain Swarga with Tapa and Vrita rather than undergoing miseries in Narak with Avrita (without vows) and Atapa ( non tapa). Just as shade and bright sunlight are quite different for a person sitting in them, in the same way there is lot of difference in those practicing Vrita and those not practicing them.

The one sitting in shade does not suffer the heat etc. while the one sitting in sunlight suffers immensely. In the same way the one who adopts Vrita and Tapa, attains pleasures of swarga while the one engaged in passions and sensual subjects lands in Narak and suffers. The objective here is that it is better to be engaged in Vrita, Tapa till Nirvana could be attained.

Further it is told that so long as one stays in the world, practice tapa, vrita but those desirous of the salvation from world should practice dhyan of soul:

Gatha 26. Those Munis who want to go across the giant world form ocean they contemplate of the soul which burns the karmas in fuel form.

Destruction of karmas is attained by meditation upon pure soul only hence those who want salvation from the world should contemplate of the Paramatma form pure soul. There is no other way.

The procedure for Dhyan is described:

Gatha 27. The Muni engaged in Dhyan, relinquishing all manifestations in the form of passions, pride, raga, moha, dwesha, etc. , being detached from worldly affairs, contemplates of the soul only.

Muni should firstly discard all passions, raga-dwesha and thus totally detached contemplate of the pure soul.

Same is reiterated further:

Gatha 28. Relinquishing Mithyatva, Agyan, Pap, Punya, etc. with mind, speech and body , the Muni engaged in contemplation meditates upon the soul keeping silence.

Here the beliefs of other faiths who also practice Dhyan are negated. If one does not know the form of Moksha then what would he contemplate upon ? Dhyan is not mediation upon pap or punya. Therefore firstly Mithyatva has to be relinquished as per Jain order and then with right belief the Dhyan has to be practiced.

Keeping silence what does the Yogi think about? :

Gatha 29. The corporeal body etc. which I see, they are insentient and definitely do not know anything. I am knower and non corporeal so cannot be seen then whom should I talk with? Therefore keeping silence is the best.

If there is someone to talk with, then speaking with him is meaningful. But the soul is non corporeal and does not speak while corporeal pudgala is insentient who does not know anyone. Hence whom should I talk with ? Better to keep quiet.

Contemplating thus he destroys the accumulated karmas after preventing influx of karmas:

Gatha 30. The Yogi engaged in Dhyan, prevents the asrava of all the karmas and destroys the previously bonded karmas. Then with Keval Gyan knows all the substances- thus has been told by Jinendra deva.

Dhyan prevents asrava (infux) of karmas and future bondage. Further it leads to Nirjara of karmas due to which one attains Keval Gyan and Moksha. This is the glory of Dhyan.

Those engaged in Vyavahara cannot attain Dhyan:

Gatha 31. The Muni who sleeps (disinterested) in the activities of Vyavahara, he is alert in the activities of soul contemplation. The one who is alert in the activities of Vyavahara, he sleeps in activities of soul contemplation i.e. does not know his own nature. 

Muni does not have anything to do with worldly activities otherwise what for he has become Muni? Primarily he is engaged in Dhyan and contemplation of the soul. The Activities pertaining to MahaVrita are secondary.

Therefore Muni engages in activities of the soul discarding Vyavahara:

Gatha 32. Knowing this Yogi relinquishes all the activities pertaining to Vyavahara and he contemplates of the Paramatma as prescribed by Jinendra Bhagwan.

The implication of discarding Vyavahara is that all activities pertaining to worldly Vyavahara and Dharma Vyavahara are relinquished, then only one can engage in Dhyan. The forms of Dhyan described by other faiths are incorrect and are negated.

Further JinaDeva has preached for studies and Dhyan which is described as follows:

Gatha 33. Acharya says that O Muni! Adopting five MahaVritas (great vows) , five Samiti ( disciplines), three Guptis (restraints) and jewel trio, practice Dhyan and studies of scriptures.

Armed with the practices of five MahaVritas, five Samiti, three Gupti and jewel trio , the Muni should engage in Dhyan and studies of scriptures. Of these the primary is Dhyan but if the mind is not immersed in the same then one should direct mind towards studies. In scriptures also the form of Paramatma is described which is part of Dhyan only.

Those who are devotees of jewel trio, those jivas are worshippers only:

Gatha 34. Jiva having devotion towards jewel-trio should be considered as a devotee and the result of devotion is Keval Gyan.

The pure soul is Keval Gyan and vice versa:

Gatha 35. The one who is established by himself, free from impurities of karmas, knower and seer of all substances, the form of such soul has been described by Jinendra deva. O Muni! Know that soul to be Keval (only) Gyan or know Keval(only) Gyan to be soul. In this way the description of quality and its owner is carried out from aspect of non differentiation.

The form of soul  has been described to be Siddha on its own by Omniscient. The soul and knowledge are one and the same.

Those who worship jewel trio, they contemplate of the soul:  

Gatha 36. The Yogi who is devoted towards jewel-trio as described by Jinendra Deva, explicitly he contemplates of the soul and relinquishes the pudgala etc. form other dravyas, for sure.

Acharya explains how the soul is of the form of jewel trio:

Gatha 37. The one who knows is Gyan, the one who sees is Darshan and renunciation of punya-pap form activities is Charitra. In this way the soul and jewel-trio are described from aspect of non-differentiation.

All these three above are qualities and the one doing them is the soul hence these three are soul only. There is no differentiation between the qualities and owner of qualities. Therefore jewel trio is soul only.

Same is explained in another way:

Gatha 38. Right belief in Jiva etc. form Tatvas is Samyak Darshan. Knowing those Tatvas rightly is Samyak Gyan. Renunciation of violence etc. form pap activities is Samyak Charitra, thus has been told by Jinendra Deva.

Right belief in the seven tatvas is Samyak Darshan and knowing the same rightly is Samyak Gyan. Activities pertaining to renunciation of other dravyas is Charitra. These have to understood from aspects of Nishchaya and Vyavahara as described in scriptures.

From aspect of Samyak Darshan:

Gatha 39. The person purified with Samyak Darshan only is pure, since the one who is purified with Samyak Darshan only attains Moksha. The one who does not have Samyak Darshan does not get desired benefit i.e. Moksha.

Samyak Darshan alone is paramount in the attainment of Nirvana.

The essence of preachment is to attain Samyak Darshan:

Gatha 40. This preachment of such Samyak Darshan is extremely beneficial, eliminator of old age, death etc. The one who has right belief in it only is Samyak Drishti which is followed by all the Munis and Shravaks.

Out of all the bhavas of Jiva, the Samyak darshan is most important since without it the Gyan and Charitra are not termed as Samyak. Therefore firstly adopt Samyak Darshan. This is the message.

The form of Samyak Gyan is described:

Gatha 41. The Yogi who understands the difference between Jiva and Ajiva as described by Jinendra Bhagwan, that is Samyak Gyan in reality as per Omniscient Deva.

Knowing the forms of six dravyas, seven tatvas as described by omniscient is Samyak Gyan. Without such knowledge, jiva indulges in Mithyatva and believes other dravyas to be self. Other faiths have also described them incorrectly which lead to Mithyatva only hence should be avoided.

Form of Samyak Charitra is described:

Gatha 42. Dhyani Muni who, realising the difference of Jiva and Ajiva, renunciates punya and Pap activities, he is Charitra free of Vikalpas. Thus has been told by Omniscient Deva who has destroyed Ghatiya karmas.

Charitra is described in Nishchaya and Vyavahara sense as follows-  The practices of five MahaVrita-Samiti-Gupti are Vyavahara which result in bondage of Shubha karmas. Immersion within the soul abstaining from all activities is Nishchaya Charitra. This is Nirvikalpa state.  This results in destruction of karmas. Both Nishchaya and Vyavahara go together. Completely pure  Charitra is attained in eleventh gunasthana onwards.

Thus equipped with jewel trio and practicing Tapa-Sanyam-Samiti the Muni attains Nirvana:

Gatha 43. The Sanyami Muni who adopting jewel-trio, practices Tapa in accordance with his capabilities, he attains supreme state i.e. Moksha contemplating of the pure Atma.

The Muni contemplates of Paramatma in following manner:

Gatha 44. In all the three seasons of rain, summer and winter, the Dhyani Muni  practicing Samadhi with mind, speech and body, renunciates the three thorns of the form of Mithyatva, deceit and desires. Further he contemplates of the Paramatma being free from raga-Dwesha form defects and is decorated with jewel trio.

If the Dhyan is disturbed due to hardships then it cannot be called Dhyan. Similarly it should not be disturbed by some thoughts of the nature of thorns. Lastly there should not be any thoughts of raga-dwesha either to unsettle dhyan. Thus only one should engage in dhyan.

In this manner one attains supreme bliss:

Gatha 45. The Jiva who is free of pride, deceit, anger and greed, thus having pure nature, he attains supreme bliss i.e. Moksha.

With complete purification of bhavas one attains Yathakhyat charitra which is totally pure which provides supreme bliss.

Those desirous of sensual subjects and engaged in anger etc. cannot attain the same:

Gatha 46. The Jiva who is immersed in sensual subjects and passions, has angry nature  and therefore enjoys activities of violence etc., who does not have spirit of Paramatma in his mind, that Jiva gets corrupted from Jina Mudra ( Jina attire) and cannot attain bliss of Moksha.

Those who do not have Jina Mudra ( Jina attire) and are engaged in violence and sensual subjects, then how can they attain bliss of Moksha?

Those who do not appreciate Jina Mudra remain in this world:

Gatha 47. The Jina Mudra (Jina attire) as described by Jina Deva is really the means to Moksha conventionally. Those Jivas who do not appreciate this Jina Mudra even in dreams, continue in the world form forest for ever.

Those who contemplate of the Paramatma, those Yogis do not invite new karma asrava by  remaining free of greed:

Gatha 48. The Yogi contemplating of Paramatma, gets rid of pap generating greed. The Muni free of greed does not accrue fresh karma bondage- thus has been told by Jinendra Deva.

The Muni who contemplates of the Paramatma,  does not desire anything pertaining to future births and thus remaining free of greed he does not have asrava of new karmas. The greed Kashaya is long lasting till tenth gunasthana hence that is specifically condemned.

Thus being free of greed, he engages in dhyan of Paramatma and attains highest state:

Gatha 49. In this way Yogi adopting firm Samyaktva and Charitra in his mind, contemplating of the soul attains highest state i.e. Moksha.

Firmly entrenched in Samyak darshan-gyan-charitra, the Yogi does not budge on account of hardships and contemplates of the soul and attains Moksha.

Continued…..