________________
The Self Realization
A dream of million years ends soon, When one awakes, so self-knowledge, When shines, goes off one's self-delusion, Of time eternal : it's not strange. 114
From times immemorial the embodied soul wrongly believes and acts as if he is a body and not a Self. He identifies himself with the activities of the body not knowing the nature of the Self in him. But the moment he receives the absolute knowledge of the nature of the Self, all his past mistakes and shortcomings are removed like a removal of a long dream by return to wakefulness. The dawn of absolute knowledge in the Soul destroys in a wink all his ignorance of the endless past.
छूटे देहाध्यास तो, नहि कर्ता तुं कर्म । नहि भोक्ता तुं तेहनो, ए ज धर्मनो मर्म ॥११५॥ Chhute dehadhyasa to, nahi kartta tu karma, Nahi bhokta tu tehano, e ja dharmano marma. 115 Let go the body-infatuation, And you will not have bondage new, You will not have deed-fruition, This is Religion's secret true. 115
o my disciple, if your delusion- that you are the body etc. and not the Self is removed, you will realize your pure Self and you will no more be the author of actions or the enjoyer of the fruits thereof.
The root-cause of all miseries consists in the Soul's ignorance i.e. in its Self-identification with the body and bodily activities and considering one's wife and children as one's own. This is called Self-delusion. Therefore one should learn to distinguish between the Self and the body etc. - the Self as the sentient knower and
Jain Education International
82 For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org