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"Na mithyaatva samam shatruh, na mithyaatva samam visham.
Na mithyaatva samo rogo, na mithyaatva samam tamah"
~ Gunsthaana Mokshnaa Sopaan (Page 43, Author: Dr. Ketaki Shah, Publisher: Dariyaapuri Jain Samiti, (Navrangpura) Ahmedabad, (Gujarat) year 2010)
There is no enemy like false belief. There is no poison like false belief. There is no disease like false belief. There is no darkness like false belief.
Mithyaatva does not let one perceive the true nature of the soul. Hence, one who has mithyaatva may never realise the soul. Hence, the disease of transmigration (bhava roga) is never cured and the living being remains stuck in this world, blinded by delusion (moha) and taking birth after birth.
It is said in verse 98 of the Vairagya Shataka that,
"Michchea ananta dosaa, payadaa disanti navi guna lesaa.
Taha viya ta ceva jiivaa, ho mohandha nisevanti."
Vairagya Shataka, Verse 98
~ Gunsthaana Mokshnaa Sopaan (Page 43, Author: Dr. Ketaki Shah, Publisher: Dariyaapuri Jain Samiti, (Navrangpura) Ahmedabad, (Gujarat) year 2009)
Evidently, delusion has endless flaws and no good qualities whatsoever. Despite this, those caught in the web of desire seek refuge in delusion. How tragic!
Karma Granthas (Jain scriptures specifically focussing on the law of karma as taught by the Jinaas) describe mithyaatva as the false, distorted and misguided aberrant dispositions rising in the soul as a result of the presence of mithyaatva-mohaniiya karmas in the soul.
The commentary on the Brhad-Dravyasangraha describes a mithyaadrishti living being as:
One who has false belief has an incorrect, inaccurate, perverted and reverse belief in the true nature of the soul, in the six dravyas (substances), seven tattvas (reals) and nine padaarthas {reals} as taught by the Jinaas from the point of view of naya (partial viewpoint) and pramaana (comprehensive viewpoint). Such a person suffers from the three muudhataas (follies) and the twenty-five doshas {flaws).
Just as an intoxicated person cannot see straight, and a person wearing yellow glasses sees everything tinged with yellow, a deluded person sees everything incorrectly. His false belief ensures that all his perception, knowledge and conduct are deluded. He sees the substances of the soul as the substances of the non-soul! Just as a person suffering from high fever does not appreciate the taste of a sweet juice, one suffering from the delusion of false belief does not appreciate the teachings of the Jinaas. Inherent mithyaatva causes him to go away from true religion.
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