Harmless Soul

SR No.: 001196
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: W J Johnson, Dayanand Bhargav
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas
Publication Year: 1995
Total Pages: 372
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Principle
File Size: 20 MB

Page 196

182 Harmless Souls śubha- but aśuddhopayoga has its analogue in Umāsvāti's Tattvārtha Sūtra, where it is placed among the sātā, i.e. pleasure-causing, category of the vedaniya (feelingproducing) karmas. Tattvārtha Sūtra 6:12 reads:
Compassion towards living beings (in general) and the devout (in particular), charity, asceticism with attachment etc., concentration, equanimity, purity (= freedom from greed] - these lead to the influx of karmas that cause pleasant feeling. 129
The Sarvārthasiddhi comments: 'Compassion is the thinking in sympathy of one whose mind is moistened by favour for the suffering of others as it were one's own'.130
As has been noted above, the vedaniya-karmas are a subtype of aghātiyā karmas, whose function is to generate embodiment. Thus, although compassion may be viewed positively in terms of worldly experience and as leading to worldly happiness, ultimately it too must be abandoned in the quest for liberation, since it is responsible for the adhesion of some kind of karman and so contributes to bondage, albeit in a tenuous way (i.e. at a relatively high rung of the soteriological ladder). 131
The ritualisation of (external) ahimsā, in so far as it becomes a matter of following the rules to the letter with an attitude of non-attachment, can only further weaken the force of compassion as an agent in bringing about non
129 Trans. after S.A. Jain p. 178 of: bhūtavratyanukampādānasarāgasamyamādi yogaḥ kṣāntiḥ saucam iti sadvedyasya - TS 6:12.
130 anugrahārdrīkrtacetasaḥ parapidām ātmasthām iva kurvato 'nukampanam anukampā - SS on TS 6:12.
131 But compare this with TS 7:11 and $S, where it is said of compassion (kārunya) - i.e. 'the disposition to render assistance to the afflicted' (dinānugrahabhāvaḥ) (S.A. Jain's trans. of SS p. 195] - that it characterises the conduct of those who are able to practise non-violence and other vows to perfection' (evam bhāvayatah pūrnānyahimsādini vratāni bhavanti - SS). Cf. Paño. 144 (SBJ ed.) on active compassion. Once more, there are clearly two layers of doctrine here.