Pravachanasara

SR No.: 003289
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram
Publication Year: 1964
Total Pages: 612
Language: Hindi, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_Devnagari
File Size: 16 MB

Page 65

Pravacanasara
In order to get rid of the karmas one should reflect on the nature of the self which is an embodiment of knowledge and consciousness: it should be known to be without the qualities of taste, colour, smell, touch and sound; it is sentiency itself; it is beyond inferential mark; and it has no definable shape (61 etc., 64). But from times immemorial the soul is bound by karmas of eight kinds, to the stock of which additions are made by various causes of karmic bondage such as mithyātva etc. (146 etc., 115); this karman can be destroyed by religious practices accompanied by purity of mind. Karman is the cause of samsara. There cannot be a sprout, when the seed is burnt; similarly when the seed of karman is burnt, there can never be the [p. 34:] sprout of transmigration for those monks who have purity of mind (124). Dharma, as preached by Jinas, consists in self-concentration of a pure type free from all the flaws like attachment etc. (83, 119 etc.); and it is thereby that the samsara is crossed (83). As long as the self is not realised, liberation cannot be attained, even though myriads of meritorious deeds are done (84).
This very soul becomes the higher self, when it is completely free from karmas, and comes to be designated as Jñanin, Siva, Parameṣṭhin, Sarvajña, Visņu, Caturmukha and Buddha (149). The preeminent path leading to this state of unending bliss and knowledge consists in the cultivation of triple jewel: Right faith, Right knowledge and Right conduct (30-31). The cultivation of these jewels includes, at various stages, various detailed virtues; to wit: reflection on five kinds of knowledge (65); giving up passions, pleasures and no-kaṣāyas (76 etc. 89); thinking over soḍaşakāraṇas which incur Tirthankara-nama-karman (77); practising twelvefold penance and reflecting over 13 kriyas (78); practising faultless asceticism and observing twofold control; sleeping on the ground, abandoning five kinds of clothes without minding the parisahas (79, 92 etc.); constant study of scriptures whose contents are preached by Tirthankaras and which, in their textual form, are composed by Ganadharas (90); reflection on 12 anuprekṣās, 25 bhāvanās, seven principles, nine categories and the groups of Jivas at various stages of Gunasthāna (94-95); practice of nine kinds of celibacy: giving up ten kinds of coition (96); accepting only the prescribed food (101); observing five kinds of discipline (vinaya) and 10 kinds of vaiyavratya (102-3); accepting four external lingas only after there is internal purity (109); not to desire for fame and glory, but simply to practise primary and advanced virtues (mula- and uttara-guna) (110-11); etc. etc.1
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In short, says the author in conclusion, Artha, Dharma, Kāma and Moksa proceed from purity of mind (162).
MOKKHA-PAHUDA: It contains 106 gathās. The aim of the author is to discuss about the Higher self, realizing which souls attain liberation (1-3). The self is of three kinds: the external represented by sense-organs, the internal represented by psychic states, and the Higher represented by that divinity free from karmic stains etc. (4-6). The aspirant, who has a liking for and who has grasped the words of Jina and has consequently avoided unhealthy activities, should give up all
1 I have almost heaped these technical details in this paragraph only to indicate what an amount of technicalities the author handles; sometimes he explains them, but in majority of cases he takes it for granted that his hearers or readers are already acquainted with them.