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 303

Kundakunda: The Samayasāra 289 states and being in contact with no other states, there is nothing to renounce. Again knowledge of one's true nature leads to attainment of that true nature; renunciation of parabhāva - i.e. the realisation that they are other (para) - leads to the state of renunciation. For the delusion (moha) which is overcome is precisely that the self has anything to do with other substances. This is made clear by gāthās 36 and 37 (IGM 41 and 42). The first of these states that:
(When) it is realised that 'delusion has nothing whatsoever to do with me; I am one, consciousness (upayoga)', the knowers of the true definition of self (samaya) call that the state of being free from delusion.
The second gāthā (37) repeats this formulation with dharma etc.' (dhammādi / dharmādi) substituted for moha.
In other words, the self, when truly defined, has nothing to do with the other dravya (viz. dharma, adharma, pudgala, akāśa, kāla, and other jiva), and to realise that is to be free from delusion.23
That the knower, the pure self, is naturally a renunciate is borne out by a further passage in the Samayasāra. Gāthā 210-214 read:
Non-possession (aparigraha) is said to be desirelessness. The knower does not desire merit (dharma). And it is by the nonpossession of (i.e. the lack of desire for) dharma that he becomes / is a knower [210 = JGM 225].
The next three gāthās [211-213 = JGM 226, 228-229] repeat this formulation, substituting demerit (adharma) [211], and food (asana) [212] and drink (pāna) [213] for dharma.
The passage continues:
23 At least, Amrtacandra interprets dharma here as the principle of motion, one of the five ajiva substances - see Ātmakhyāti on JGM 42. It could, however, simply mean 'merit'.