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The Future Good Fortune of a Householder Who Upholds the Shravaka Dharma
**Yoga Shastra, Third Light, Verses 154-155**
**Verse 154:**
**Meaning:** According to the scriptures, a householder who upholds the Shravaka Dharma attains the Indra position or other excellent positions in the Saudharma and other heavenly realms. Due to his excellent store of merit, he remains happy. From there, he is born into human realms, enjoys various rare pleasures, and then, becoming detached from them, destroys his karma, becomes a pure soul, and attains liberation within the eight existences.
**Explanation:** A householder who truly follows the Shravaka Dharma is born in the Saudharma and other heavenly realms. A person with right faith is not born in the other three heavenly realms. Even in the heavenly realms, he attains the position of Indra, Samanika, Trayastrimsa Parishadya, Lokapala, etc. The word "excellent" means that he is not a slave, a Kilvishika, or a member of any other inferior caste of gods. Wherever he is born, he enjoys the highest happiness and great merit. He has a chariot made of precious jewels, vast gardens, beautiful pools for bathing, exquisite jewels, ornaments, clothes, female attendants, celestial nymphs, and millions of gods who compete with each other to serve him, filling the sky with their shouts of victory. There, he obtains all worldly pleasures simply by wishing for them. He experiences great joy from traveling to various Siddha places. He experiences all these unique and extraordinary pleasures due to the power of his past merit. After completing his lifespan in the Vaimanika heavenly realm, he is born into the human realm, obtaining a distinguished country, caste, wealth, beauty, etc., and takes birth in a noble body. There, he enjoys unparalleled pleasures of sound, form, taste, smell, and touch. In the meantime, he finds an opportunity for detachment and develops a strong aversion to worldly pleasures. He accepts complete renunciation and, in that very life, ascends the ladder of stages, gradually attaining perfect knowledge, eradicating all karma, becoming a pure soul, and attaining liberation. If he does not attain liberation in that life, how many existences does the being take to attain liberation? This is called attaining liberation within the eight existences.
**Verse 155:**
**Meaning and Explanation:** Thus, the nature of yoga, which is the three jewels of knowledge, faith, and conduct, has been described in three lights. How has it been described? It has been described concisely, without contradicting the Jina scriptures. It is difficult to explain in detail for those who are not truly seeking liberation. Therefore, it has been described concisely. Can liberation be attained through any other means besides the three jewels? To resolve this doubt, it is said that liberation cannot be attained if even one of these three is lacking. It is said that even by chance, no one can attain liberation without obtaining the three jewels. One who does not know the principles of the soul and other entities, does not have faith in them, creates new karma, and does not destroy old karma through the power of righteous conduct and meditation, cannot escape the bonds of the world and attain liberation. Therefore, by saying "all," it is affirmed that only through the combined worship of knowledge, faith, and conduct can the soul attain liberation; otherwise, not.
**Thus, the third light of the Adhyatma Upanishad, composed by Acharya Shri Hemchandrasuri, which is also known as Yoga Shastra, is complete, along with its own explanation, in response to the curiosity of King Kumarapala.**