Atmssiddhi

Author(s): Shrimad Rajchandra, Manu Doshi
Publisher: Shrimad Rajchandra Sadhna Kendra Koba

Page 87

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Atmasiddhi
disaffection for worldly life, (4) Anukampä, meaning compassion, and (5) Ästhä, meaning faith. Of these, first four are specified in this stanza as the characteristics of a truth seeker. The fifth (faith) is not mentioned here, because it is implicit in the first four. Those four terms are briefly explained below.
Sham: Anger, ego, deceit, and greed are the four main passions that keep the worldly soul bound to the cycle of birth and death. In Jain terminology, they are known as Kashays. The spiritual pursuit mainly consists of overcoming these Kashäys. It is, however, hard to do so, because the worldly soul has been used to indulging in Kashäys since infinite time. But one can try to calm them down by cultivating the opposite attributes. For instance, anger can be pacified by forgiving, ego by modesty, deception by straightforwardness, and greed by contentment. That calming down of Kashäys is called Sham.
Samveg: The worldly life is beset with longings, desires, and aspirations. Every one has various desires and aspirations. When some of these desires are unfulfilled, the soul is induced to take a new birth in a place where its desires are likely to be fulfilled. The life cycle thus continues as long as one harbors any desire. It means that a soul is going to wander until it gives up all worldly desires and aspires only for liberation. Such exclusive aspiration for liberation is called Samveg.
Nirved: The worldly soul has always remained attached to sensual objects and has been trying to feel happy by getting the same. It has never realized that lifeless objects have no capability to give happiness. Attachment to the worldly objects can be given up only when one realizes that the worldly life is beset with misery. Thereby he loses interest in seeking the worldly comforts and sensual pleasures. In other words, one is totally disaffected of the worldly life. Such disaffection is called Nirved.
Anukampa: During its infinite wandering, the worldly soul has thought of its own comforts and sensual happiness, and