Atma Dharma

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Champat Rai Jain

Page 30

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of accumulated filth and rubbish. He knows that the natural divine attributes of the soul are inseparable from its being, and only need careful guidance to be developed into perfection. The main thing is to acquire a desire for self-knowledge, that is to say, a longing for the direct realization of the soul as the repository of knowledge and bliss. One must evolve out a strong unshakable faith in the virtues of the soul towards that end. And the faith to be acquired should be grounded on reason as far as possible, though the word of qualified Teacher, if fully acquiesced in, would also do. Those who retire for a little while every day to meditate on the virtues of the soul directly perceive its glorious nature and speedily reach the certainty of its being different from all its passions and emotions and a perfect embodiment of knowledge and bliss.*
a
Meditation leads to the strengthening of faith. If the soul's being be directly perceived but once, it will create a longing for self-knowledge, since such direct perception will be replete with pure joy
* Cf. "What shalt thou obtain by puzzling thy brain over dry logic; meditate on the virtues of the soul with dispassion for six months, and why will not the radiance of thy effulgent soul be reflected in the unruffled purity of thy heart? (that is, it will, of a surety, be reflected therein).--The Samayasara Kalasha, by Amrita Chandra.