________________
10
D. C, Mehta
whole universe. This love and brotherhood will not be limited only in the case of man with man but also in case of man with all the beings.
25. In short, the self in its essence is absolutely pure, enlightened consciousness in core, self-illuminating, the abode of bliss. However, in the state of transmigration from beginningless time, he is so intimately attached to matter and thought-activity that he is oblivious of his ever existing self and is absorbed ja mundane pleasures and pains. He is the conditioned self or mind, In fact the mind is the condition or state of self absorbed in thought-activity-either auspicious or evil,
26, I have stated above that when the teaching becomes effective, the aspirant for realisation gets a clear picture of ever existing self. It is absolutely necessary that aspirant or Sadhaka has such picture of his self before him first. Let us understand this by some illustration. There is theft in your neighbourhood. The police is informed. The police comes and records the statement of all the available persons who were present Dearby, at the time of the alleged theft to ascertain the presence of some person and his exact description as far as possible. The investigating staff of the Police Deptt, has now a picture hefore them about the alleged thief from the recorded statements before them. Then they start further investi. gation to find such person. You want to construct a house. First you get prepared a plan of that house. Then the construction starts according to that plan, or course in the cases of the illustrations before us, there is a probability of the alleged thief to be innocent and the plan of the house requiring a change. But in the case of self, there is a difference, The picture of the self is not only based on your intellectual effort for realising self but it is also on the teaching of one who has himself realised and experienced it and on the contents of Sat Sustras --the true scriptures. There is, therefore, no question of its being incorrect. The only condition is that the Sadhaka must have before his mind a correct picture from these material. When the Sadhaka has the correct picture hefore him of his self, the blissful thinking arises. The process of turning his conscious attentiveness towards this self, and of withdrawing it from other substances and his own thought-activity starts. The knowledge of self emerges. The delusion being destroyed, the soul attains right bellef and knowledge about his ever existing self or the godliness in him. The conscious attentiveness increasingly flows in the self, with the result that the vows namely non-iojury (Ahimsa), Truth (Satya), non-stealing (Acaurya), Celibacy (Brahmacarya) and Non-possessiveness (A parigraha) becomes, by and by effortless with him. The self-absorbsive conduct (Samyak caritra) increases more and more. The soul attains the state of complete nonattachment and Omniscience. This process of growth and development is