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LESHYÄS - STATE OF MIND AND KARMIC STAINS The following illustration shows how our activities vary with the state of our mind.
Six Friends and a Fruit Tree :
Once there were six friends, who were going on a hiking trip. Along the way, they got lost in a forest. After a while they were hungry and thirsty and they had no food or water. They searched for food for some time, and finally found a fruit tree.
As they ran to the tree, the first man said, "Let's cut the tree down and get the fruit." The second one said, "Don't cut the whole tree down, cut off a big branch instead." The third friend said, "Why do we need a big branch? A small branch has enough fruit." The fourth one said, "We do not need to cut the branches, let us just climb up and get the bunches of fruit." The fifth man said, "Why pick so many fruit and waste them, instead just pick the fruit that we need to eat." The sixth friend said quietly, "There are plenty of good fruit on the ground, so let's eat them first."
You can see that the state of mind of these six friends caused a range of thoughts that begin with the cutting of the entire tree and ended with the picking up of the fruit fallen on the ground. The six friends' minds represent six types of Leshyäs.
1) The first friend's state of mind represents Krishna (black) Leshyä. 2) The second friend's state of mind represents Neel (blue) Leshyä. 3) The third friend's state of mind represents Kapot (gray) Leshyä. 4) The fourth friend's state of mind represents Tejo (red) Leshyä. 5) The fifth friend's state of mind represents Padma (yellow) Leshyä. 6) The sixth friend's state of mind represents Shukla (white) Leshyä.
The Krishna Leshyä is the worst and the Shukla Leshyä is the best. Krishna, Neel, and Kapot Leshyäs lead the soul to ruin and the last three leads the soul to spiritual prosperity. We know that our minds wander into different states all the time for better or for worse. Therefore, we should strive for better state of mind -Leshyä progressively. The story of King
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JAIN PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE I
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