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 73

I am the Soul
15
consider this - people have plenty individually and socially, yet their yearning for what they do not have takes away their happiness and peacefulness. When do we get this happiness and peace? Only when we realise the true nature of Self. The beginning of the realisation of the Soul is the first step on the path of liberation.
What is the path of liberation in today's context? Not many know about it. It seems as if the path of liberation is lost. Let us first understand what the learned call the path of liberation. In the 'Uttaradhyayan Sutra' (28-2) Shri Prabhu mentions -
नाणं च दंसणं चेव चरित्तं च तवो तहा ।
एस मग्गुत्ति पन्नत्तो, जिणेहिं वरद सिहिं ।। २ ॥ Similarly,
ज्ञान क्रियाभ्यां मोक्षः। and ___ सम्यग्दर्शन - ज्ञान - चारित्राणि मोक्षमार्गाः ॥१
The path of liberation has been defined here. Whether we say that knowledge, faith, conduct and penance make up the path of liberation or that the synthesis of knowledge and action is the path of liberation or that true faith, true knowledge and true conduct together make the path of liberation, all mean the same. Such a defined path of liberation is lost to us today.
In the villages, trails are formed in the dust, when people tread a particular path regularly. A dust storm or a lashing rain wipes out such a muddy trail. Yet the moment the dust storm ceases or the pouring rain stops, traffic begins on that way and the trail is there again. A being fails to notice the path of liberation shown by so many Tirthankars as it is caught in the storm of material life.
The only thoughts that come day and night are those of this material life. What else do we think and dream of but this worldly life? Brothers! While you sit here, listening to this discourse,