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Chapter 14: Guru's Explanation regarding the State of Liberation (Fifth Fundamental)
Every living being has desires and undertakes some activity for satisfying the same. Such activity constitutes its pursuit, which is termed as Sädhanä. One who undertakes the pursuit is Sadhak, and the object of desire is Sadhya. These three aspects are present in every activity. This holds good even in the case of apparently insignificant activities of the insects.
If a sugar grain is dropped somewhere, an ant would smell it even from a distance and would want to get it. For that purpose it would come out of its hole, and carry away the grain. In this case the ant is Sadhak; its coming out and carrying the grain is Sadhana; and the sugar grain is Sädhya. These three aspects are thus inherent in every type of pursuit, whether it is spiritual or temporal.
Here we are concerned with spiritual pursuit. In the present case the pupil is Sädhak. He wants to undertake Sadhanä for gaining the liberation, which is his Sädhya. But he is still not sure about the feasibility of his Sädhya (liberation) and has therefore raised questions about its attainment.
He has taken into consideration the activities with good or bad inclination, but has not thought of retreating from both these modes and of staying indifferent. This is mainly due to the fact that the worldly soul undertakes every activity with some purpose in mind. There is thus the sense of attachment or resentment associated with every activity. That leads to wholesome or unwholesome bondage. Hardly does any one conceive of a state where one does everything with a detached mind, and hence does not acquire new bondage. Since old bondage is going to be stripped off in due course, one can reach the Karmaless state by resorting to detachment in every situation. The Guru now explains that state.
