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Ätmasiddhi
that path and achieve self-realization. Thus going to the right shelter (Guru) without one's own bias is the obvious cause of self-realization. It can therefor be termed as right perception or Samakit.
In this connection, Shrimad has observed (Vachanamrut # 771): "It is not to be taken as a principle that all the monks, nuns, and house holders of the Lord Tirthankars were knowledgeable about the sentient (living) and insentient (nonliving) substances and were endowed with right perception. Many of them were said to have right perception because they had the conviction, willingness, recourse, and firm determination that Lord Tirthankars are the right entities; they have laid down the path of liberation, and the way they have directed, is the right path to liberation."
Every occurrence or event has a cause. Conversely, if there is a cause, its result is bound to come. In other words, the result is inherent in the cause. Therefore the cause itself is sometimes treated as the result. Shrimad here makes use of that logic and states that the molding of life as per instructions of a Guru, being the cause of right perception, is itself right perception.
The causes are of two types. One is the absolute cause known as Upädän, and the other is instrumental cause known as Nimitta. The Upädän is inherent in the subject and indicates its potentiality. For instance, right perception is potentially lying within the soul. The question is to manifest the same. The factor, which is instrumental to such manifestation, is called Nimitta. Thus, going to the shelter of the Guru is the Nimitta that leads to the manifestation of right perception.
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