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**Tāraṣṭi:** Intense curiosity towards one who is highly virtuous.
In the actions of one who is more virtuous, a desire to know the reason for their actions, and a lack of aversion towards one's own shortcomings. 46
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**Meaning:** There is a desire-filled curiosity towards the actions of one who is more virtuous, and a lack of aversion towards one's own flawed actions.
**Commentary:**
Furthermore, in this ṣṭi, the aspirant, seeing the actions of an ācāryādri who is more virtuous than themselves, and who has a higher state of self-realization, thinks to themselves: "Ah! This great soul's actions are of such a superior kind, what kind of curiosity is this, how does it happen?" This gives rise to a state of intense desire and anxiety-filled curiosity to know the reason; because the states of the soul are countless, and due to the speed of the karmic actions, due to inferiority, due to being less, there are countless differences in the states of the soul. Thus, due to the difference in the destruction of karma, some souls are of a lower order than themselves, some are of the same order, and some are of a higher order. Thus, there are differences in the states of souls who are progressing, moving forward, and achieving self-development. Therefore, their religious actions are also of that kind, with varying degrees of speed, and are of a higher or lower level.
In this, the aspirant, when they see great souls who have a higher state of self-realization than themselves, when they see a bhavacārya, a bhavupaādhyāya, a bhavasādhu, a bhavasrāvaka, or any other aspirant who is more virtuous than themselves, they are filled with wonder. When they see their dharma-dhyāna, which is more pure and blessed than their own, when they see their firm and unwavering faith, which is more steadfast than their own, when they see their devotion to God, which is more filled with joy and enthusiasm than their own, when they see their tapas, svādhyāya, pratikramāṇa, vandanādi, which are more filled with self-exaltation than their own, when they see their ahiṁsā, satya, etc., which are more developed than their own, and when they see their samyagdarshan, jñāna, cāritra, etc., which are more self-perfected than their own, then this aspirant, who has this yogadṛṣṭi, is filled with wonder and thinks to themselves: "Ah! This great soul's dharma-dhyāna! Ah! Their devotion! Ah! Their faith! Ah! Their tapas-svādhyāya! Ah! Their ahiṁsā-satya! Ah! Their darshan, jñāna-cāritra! Ah! Their state of brahmaniṣṭhā! Ah! Their unparalleled self-perfection! How did these wonderful brahmaniṣṭhā great souls attain such a wonderful state of self-realization?"