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Chapter 16: Guru's Exposition about the Path and Means of Liberation
Explanation & Discussion:
If some thing is to be accomplished, one has to avert the factors that might be coming in the way. The bondage of Karma operates as an impediment to the attainment of liberation. It is therefore obvious that one needs to avert the factors that cause that bondage.
Wrong perception, absence of restraint, indolence, passions, and undue exercise of the body, mind, and speech are the five main causes that lead to bondage. Of those five types, wrong perception is the first and foremost. It does not allow the worldly soul even to look towards its true nature. Wrong perception is removed with the emergence of right perception. That can arise by destroying the three subcategories of wrong perception, and by overcoming the four intense subcategories of anger, arrogance, deception, and greed, which are the infinitely lasting passions. Since right perception cannot emerge so long as these seven categories prevail, one should try to get rid of the same in order to gain right perception.
Thereafter one has to adopt restraints to overcome the other categories of passions and avert indolence to the furthest extent possible. The restraints are also helpful in regulating physical, mental, and verbal activities. All these factors can be brought under control by enlightenment and the endeavor in light thereof. As such, the enlightened state and the right endeavor constitute the path of liberation. That leads to the end of the cycle of birth and death.
રાગ, દ્વેષ, અજ્ઞાન એ, મુખ્ય કર્મની ગ્રંથ; થાય નિવૃત્તિ જેહથી, તે જ મોક્ષનો પંથ.
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