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Chapter 1 - Sutra 8
17. This refers to various questions concerning an object’s shape, form, color, its master, the means to create it, the place to preserve it, its durability limits, and its types. By obtaining answers to these questions, one enhances the knowledge of the father. In the same way, an introspective person also enhances the knowledge of the father by listening to discussions about the path to liberation or about spiritual principles termed as Hey and Upadeya, using various questions related to them. This same intention is expressed in the following two sutras. For instance, taking the fourteen questions related to the concept of equanimous perception, a summarized reflection is as follows:
1. Nirā – Form. An interest in the principle represents the form of equanimous perception.
2. Swāmitva – Authority. The living being is the rightful holder of equanimous perception, not the non-living; because it is the quality or manifestation of life.
3. Sādhan – Cause. The three causes of equanimous perception are the removal, annihilation, and cessation of deluding karma. The external causes are numerous; such as, scriptural knowledge, self-identity, sight of images, company with the good, etc.
4. Madhikār – Support. The living being is the basis of equanimous perception, as it is a consequence residing in it. Equanimous perception is a quality; therefore, the master and the authority are not different. However, when the living being is considered in relation to the ownership and authority of the beginning substance, a distinction is observed between the two. For instance, from a transactional perspective, one living being might be seen as the master of another.