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Räjgeetä
Explanation & Discussion: This stanza deals with the wrong concept of the sectarian regarding scriptural knowledge. Jainism specifies five categories of knowledge. The first two relate to the intellectual and scriptural knowledge, which are termed as Mati Jnän and Shrut Jnän. Gaining knowledge starts from that level and ends in omniscience, which is termed as Kevaljnän.
The scriptures divide worldly life in four categories of heavenly, human, animal, and infernal existence. The unhappiness and misery associated with the worldly life of those four categories are explained at length in the sacred books. The scriptural texts specify 198 subcategories of heavenly beings, 303 of humans, 48 of animals, and 14 of infernal making a total of 563 subcategories. A sectarian does not make out that the purpose of that classification is to show the great variety of species in which the worldly soul has been wandering. Instead, he would consider those details as constituting the essence of scriptural knowledge and try to memorize and reiterate such divisions and subdivisions.
This type of knowledge is actually meant for inducing people to look inward. Thereby one should be induced to ponder over that he has been wandering in so many categories of life since the infinity and he should now endeavor to be free from that. But what is likely to happen is that by knowing about the luxuries of heavenly life one may aspire to get that type of life. In other words, he develops longing for a new worldly existence. Is it not pitiable that the scriptural knowledge of different types of existence should induce one to desire the continuation of worldly existence?
He would also hold strong opinions about traditions and
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