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English Translation (preserving Jain terms):
39
There may be delusion, or an insane prattle in the form of undigested knowledge or non-transformation. The mala (karmic impurities) has not been removed, 'the entire world is seen as a garland or known as a dream', and such a non-mala state of knowledge has not arisen, yet it displays 'verbal knowledge' like a madman, saying 'I am the knower, not the ignorant, how can I be liberated?' Similarly, artificiality, hypocrisy, and duality also arise. In this way, the possibility of many defects arises in solitary spiritual contemplation. But through devotion to the Bhagavān, there is no possibility of any such defects, and the soul ascends the natural spiritual qualities.
The great souls who are desirous of their own nature have understood the worship of the Jina Bhagavān and the Siddha Bhagavān as the means to attain the nature (svabhāva). The state of Kṣīṇamala (destruction of karmic impurities) is the strong support for the soul's contemplation of its own nature. Further, only the contemplation of the spiritual nature gives rise to the soul; it makes many souls attain dryness, or generates willfulness, or produces a state of insane prattle. Through the meditation on the form of the Bhagavān, a devotional perspective arises, and the spiritual perspective becomes secondary. Thus, dryness, willfulness, and insane prattle do not occur. By the establishment of the natural state of the soul, natural spiritual predominance occurs. The soul naturally engages in the highest qualities, so defects like dryness do not arise. And there is no aversion towards the path of devotion. The natural state of the soul attains absorption in its own nature, where the mind engages in the nature of the soul without the support of the contemplation of the form, qualities, and modifications.
As stated by Ācārya Kundakunda in the Pravacana-sāra, "One who knows the Bhagavān in terms of the body, object, qualities, and modifications, knows the nature of one's own soul and, by ascertaining it, attains the destruction of mala." Thus, by following the path of devotional spirituality or spiritual devotion, one does not fall into the state of the aforementioned defects. By predominantly following the devotional path, one gradually touches the higher and higher spiritual stages, the 'Suddha' spiritual state manifests from the experience of the qualities of the manifest Guṇin (the enlightened being), and finally, one attains the complete spiritual development. Thus, the contemplation and meditation on the form of the Lord is an easy and direct means for the soul to attain its own nature. Just as the lamp becomes the light by worshiping the lamp, the soul becomes the Supreme Soul by worshiping the Supreme Soul. The worshiper becomes the worshipped through the worship of the worshipped.