Tattvartha Sutra

SR No.: 006796
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sukhlal Sanghavi, K K Dixit
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 596
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Tattvartha Sutra, & Tattvarth
File Size: 10 MB

Page 180

CHAPTER ONE
Answer : When it is said that the relation of means and end obtains betwen the triple jewel and moksa it is done from the standpoint of the state of the seeker not from that of the state of the accomplished. For the seeker has for his aim mokṣa which is of the form of the triple jewel like samyak-darśana etc. brought to perfection, and the attainment of mokṣa thus conceived takes place through a gradual development of the triple jewel. The present treatise is meant for the seeker not for the accomplished. Hence it speaks of the difference obtaining between an end and its means, a difference that is certainly of use to a seeker.
Question : In the worldly life we actually see that happiness is attained through means like wealth, woman, progeny etc., why then recommend not this happiness but that which is of the form of mokṣa and as such is beyond the ken of vision ?
Answer: Mokșa is recommended because it yields real happiness. The worldly life, on the other hand, yields happiness no doubt but that is pseudo-happiness not real happiness.
Question : Moksa yields real happiness while the worldly life yields pseudo-happiness—how is it so ?
Answer : The worldly happiness arises through the fulfilment of desire. But it is the very nature of desire that as soon as rather even before-one of them is fulfilled hundreds of others crop up. Now it is impossible for all these new desires to be fulfilled, and even if that be possible there will meanwhile arise thousands of other desires whose fulfilment will remain certainly impossible. All this means that in the worldly life the unhappiness born of the non-fulfilment of desires always weighs heavier than the happiness born of the fulfilment thereof. Hence it is that the happiness in question is called pseudo-happiness. On the other hand, moksa is so conditioned that it involves an absence of all desires and an emergence of natural contentment. This moksa time happiness born of contentment is alone happiness, real happiness. 1.