Enlightened Vision of the Self

Author(s): Akalankadev, Devendra K Goyal
Publisher: Radiant Publishers New Delhi

Page 43

FOREWORD
Ones (Siddhas)! What art thou doing? Arise! Awake, and reside in your own innate nature (surpa). Thou art alone. Thou dost deeds of virtue and vice alone! Reapest their fruits alone! Alone thou contemplates the Pure Self! And alone attainest salvation!
Observe! Awake! Alien is alien. To identify with the non-self is itself misery. Recognition of the self in own self is Happiness, Salvation, and Supreme Bliss. This thou thy own Self art! Renounce the prospect of the alien. And cherish the hobby of being absorbed in Self,
If thou thinkest, then think of the true nature of the Supreme Soul. Stay absorbed in its devotion. Thinking of people, think the way that is beneficial to them.
If thou speakest, then speak to sing the virtues of the Pure Self. Go on admiring those virtues. Talking to people, utter only beneficial, select, sweet words!
If thou dost, do that by which no living being dies or suffers. Make thy daily routine virtuous.
Thou art intrinsically a Pure Conscious Being! Experience your own nature, Recite: Recite: “I am a Pure Conscious Self!"54
Only consciousness is the innate nature (swarupa) of the Self; all else is alien dust, matter or karma. The Self is exhorted to give up all foreign influences, material (karman particles) as well as psychic (passions, etc.), and to know and dwell on sva (Self), which is identified with consciousness, i.e. the innate nature (scarpa) of the Self. In Jainism, dharma is defined as vatthu saharo55 (stabhara or surropa), i.e. the intrinsic nature of an object or living being, i.e. Self. If swabhara is dharma then to lead a life in accordance with the innate nature of the Self is the real crux of dharma, a way of life ensuring peace, happiness, and well-being. In Pravachanasara, written by Acharya Kundakunda, conduct is said to be dharma (duty); dharma is defined as equanimity (sama); and equanimity is described as “a state-of-evolution (parinama) of the soul, which is free from infatuation (moha), and deviod of being perturbed (kshobha)". Commenting on it, Acharya Amrtachandra observes:
Conduct is behaving according to one's nature; activity obeying