I am The Soul Part 01

SR No.: 006790
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Tarulatabai Mahasati
Publisher: Shri Gujarati Shwetambar Sthanakwasi Jain Association
Total Pages: 468
Language: English, Hindi
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 163

I am the Soul
105
the soul. How should a Sadguru be? Whom should we accept in the form of a Sadguru? Srimadji says while pointing out the characteristics of a Sadguru - .
आत्मज्ञान समदर्शिता, विचरे उदयप्रयोग,
3d aruît uchra, H&A Anut Tree.....80 Atmajnana (knowledge of the self), Samadarshila (total equanimity), Uduyprayoge Vicharan (stoical ability to avoid further addition of Karma), Apoorva Vani (unparalleled speech) and Paramshrututa (deep knowledge of all systems of philosophy) - one who is bestowed with all these five qualities is a Sadguru.
The first quality is atmajnana. One who has experienced the Self, who has experienced the Soul and at the same time harbours the clear and firm understanding that excepting the soul all other substances are separate from him; one who is conscious that - I do not belong to the body, my natural disposition is formless, of eternal bliss; one who is always aware that - attachment to any thing or person is not my nature, I am totally devoid of any attachment - such a person is Atmajnani - knowing the Self, who has experienced the soul.
In fact, the jiva does not prefer any attachment. We have all heard and expressed so often that a jiva comes in alone and goes away alone. Yet does not live alone. If, for some reason a person is left alone, his life becomes unbearable. He is constantly in a state of torment. But if you consider carefully, you will notice that in this world nobody belongs to anybody
This is not limited only to the mankind. In the uni-sensory life form, infinite number of jivas are born and the same number of jivas die at a time, together. There, each jiva is aware of only its own birth and death. It can neither sense nor feel the other jivas living with it.
Similarly, in the bi-sensory life-form numerous jivas take birth and die. In the animal kingdom, dogs, cats and swine give