Apoorva Avasar

Author(s): Manu Doshi
Publisher: Manu Doshi

Page 7

toiling and undertaking different activities for the sake of body. That would now change. The characterrelated delusion, which used to prompt him towards wrong activities, now loses its strength. The very backbone of that Karma is broken. That is the way to overcome it. If one is serious in his endeavor, he can notice that by virtue of right perception the character-related delusion is continually losing ground.
4) Ätmasthiratä Tran Sankshipta Yogani, Mukhyapane To Varte Dehparyant Jo; Ghor Parishah Ke Upasarga Bhaye Kari, Ävi Shake Nahin Te Sthiratäno Ant Jo. Apoorva.
Reducing the mental, verbal and physical activities to the minimal level, we may maintain self-awareness during the remaining life and not lose it even in times of great distress or infliction of terrible pain. When?
This stanza relates to the contemplation about remaining continuously aware of the Self. For that purpose, one needs to restrain his physical, vocal and mental faculties from undue indulgence. The mental restraint is known as Manogupti, vocal as Vachangupti and physical as Käygupti. The worldly life mainly consists of indulgence in defilement and that leads to undue exercising of those faculties. The spiritual aspirant needs to restrain them from undue indulgence. That is termed as Gupti, which can enable one to stay tuned to soul.
While remaining so tuned, he may come across different types of hardships and distress, which are known as Parishah and Upasarga. The seers have described 22 types of hardships like heat, cold, hunger, thirst etc. The spiritual aspirant should face them without being perturbed. It may be relatively easy to do so in healthy and favorable circumstances. In adverse ones, however, one may be concerned about the problems that he has to face. As such, it might be tough to remain tuned to soul. Here, the aspirant therefore longs to stay so tuned that his self-awareness is not disturbed, even if he comes across horrible distress or pain.
While discussing the 3 stanza it was mentioned that ignorance of the Self is the primary cause of worldly life. Because of that ignorance, the cycle of birth and death has been running uninterrupted despite various religious activities that the worldly soul might have undertaken so far. During the innumerable lives that we have gone through, we might have adopted religious mode of life on many occasions. As such, we might have gained varying levels of knowledge and might have resorted to various types of rituals. Many a time we might also have renounced the worldly life. Since the worldly cycle is still continuing unabated, we need to consider why all those religious activities have failed in taking us towards liberation.
The path of liberation consists of right perception, right knowledge and right action. Since perception and knowledge go hand in hand, it can also be said that the path consists of knowledge and action. Therefore it is said, 'Jnänkriyäbhyam Mokshah'. It means that liberation can be attained by knowledge cum action. The knowledge bereft of action is sterile. It leads nowhere and tends to give rise to vanity; while action without knowledge leads to a blind alley.
Most of the aspirants do not realize the importance of pursuing both those aspects simultaneously. Some of them hold that observation of auspicious rituals is enough. Thereby they expect to earn wholesome Karma, which can lead to a better life hereafter. They consider the path of knowledge slippery and hazardous. They see too many pitfalls on that path. As such, they turn their back against that path and devote their energy in observing various rituals without understanding their purpose.
On the other hand, there are people, who come across the spiritual books dealing with absolute point of view. Thereby they conclude that the soul being intangible, it cannot be defiled; it is incorruptible and stays pure forever. That is exactly the theory of Vedänt. It states that soul can never be polluted. It always stays pure and does not incur bondage. Hence, nothing has to be done except recognizing the pure nature of soul.
One should therefore stay away from being bare knowledgeable as well as from observing lifeless rituals. He should seek a right Guru and surrender at his feet. Thereby the delusion about the Self is removed and one reaches the state of enlightenment. The character-related delusion is not necessarily overcome that time, but the aspirant remains conscious to overcome it and to stay tuned to the soul. His longing in that respect is presented in the next stanza.