Pinnacle Of Spirituality

SR No.: 032343
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Raj Saubhag Satsang Mandal
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 188
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 42 MB

Page 150

66. Memories of the Past
he mountains and caves of Idar resounded with echoes of the melodious chanting of divine verses. Shrimad set this historic land alive with vibrations that touched the pure soul. Shrimad was so totally immersed in himself that he recalled his past lives, the times when he had walked in the woods and forests of this holy land. He could visualise vividly the different places where he had prayed and meditated. He remembered with great excitement and devotion the moments he had enjoyed in the company of the Enlightened Ones of those days.
Then, he sat on a boulder and said to the monks : "The scriptures state that the Lord sat on 'Pudhvi Shila.' This boulder is Pudhvi Shila." Bhagwan Mahavir had once fasted on this boulder for three days. It was this boulder that had made Shrimad recall his past experiences. He then read from Dravya Sangraha (a scripture describing the six kinds of matter and principles which constitute the universe) until they were about half way through it. The seven monks were in a state of spiritual ecstasy! Munishri Devkaranji, experiencing a strong feeling of detachment said, "What need is there for us to return to town ?"
Shrimad responded : "Who says you should return ?"
Munishri Devkaranji said: "We still need to fill the stomach."
Shrimad observed that their very stomach brought great benefit to society at large.
He then said : "Whatever one perceives the Soul as, during meditation, is how one sees it." He furhter explained that often people have their own imagination of what the Soul is and this has an effect on their meditation. For example: If one feels that the soul is like a bull and its tail is like a mountain then the soul will appear like that to him.
The monks met Shrimad again the next day and they started walking briskly up the mountain on a difficult path, thick with brambles and covered with loose stones. When they reached the top, they all sat on a large boulder. Shrimad then said: “Look, this boulder is siddha-shila (the abode of Liberated souls), and the one sitting on it, is a siddha (enlightened soul)." He was experiencing such bliss, almost a state of nirvana (liberation)