Gandharavada

SR No.: 006739
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Esther A Solomon
Publisher: Gujarat Vidyasabha
Publication Year: 1966
Total Pages: 400
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

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perceive everything, just as a man who stands outside the house can see everything around him, or as the lamp from which the covering is removed can shine forth in all its illumination. But what is essential is that the entity in order to shine forth either partially or completely must be of the nature of illumination, otherwise it would not have any illumination whatsoever. Therefore the emancipated soul is a knower (2001).
The emancipated soul may be a knower, but how can it be established that it is bappy? Punya (merit) brings about happiness, and på pa (sin or dermerit) pain or unhappiness. In the case of an emancipated soul, there is no punya or papa; since all the karman is eradicated, it can have neither happiness nor pain (misery) like a kaša. Moreover, it is the body that is the locus of the apprehension of pleasure or pain, and in the state of emancipation there is no body, nor even the sense-organs; hence the soul like akāśa, can have neither pleasure nor pain (2002-3).
Lord Mahā vīra says it is not so. It is wrong to look upon the fruit of punya as pleasure or happiness; as a matter of fact, the fruit of punya also is pain or misery, because it is caused by karmu, like the fruit of papa. Of course, the retort can be that similarly it can be argued that the fruit of pāpa also is pleasure, because it is caused by karma, like the fruit of punya. Moreover, tlie statement that the fruit of punya is of the nature of pain contradicts our experience inasmuch as the fruit of punya is found to be agreeable, not so that of pāpa. But this is mistaken, because what is regarded on account of intellectual obliqueness as pleasure o: happiness is illusory, unreal, and so it is no contradiction to say that the sensation that arises from the enjoyment of sandalwood, etc. is of the nature of pain. There is no true pleasure or happiness in the world; what people attached to worldly things regard as pleasure is not really such, but is only of the nature of a counter-active force, à remely against pain. If a person is suffering from eczema, he scratches the body and this gives hiin some relief, but in the long run it will only increase his ailment. Similarly what