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THE ESSENCE OF JAINA SCRIPTURES
continue to know the self is meditation (dhyan), and that meditation (of self] is conduct (charitra). He maintains that one need not make any other effort or activity whatsoever to destroy karmas. 182 However, he mistakenly believes that one binds punya (karma) by the worship and meditation of the supreme soul (paramatma). The meditation of one's own soul, on the other hand, Bharill says, leads to both the destruction of karmas and delusion (mithyatva).
Kanjipanthi also erroneously maintain that whatever good activity (shubha or punya) a person undertakes will only beget him material for sense enjoyments (bhog samagri). This is the inherent nature of pain/misery and the cause of transmigratory existence (sansara). 183 Knowledge of the self is in itself considered to lead to the destruction of karmic bondage and liberation. This belief of the Kanjipanthi sect is similar to that of Shankara - the proponent of Advaita Vedanta - who consistently rejects the view that in addition to knowledge action is also necessary for achieving liberation (jnana karma samuchchayavada).
Delusion (mithyatva), i.e. ignorance about the nature of the self, Bharill argues, results from the mistake of regarding punya as desirable or worth acquiring (punya mein upadeya buddhi). This mistake pertains to the nature of reality of things, particularly the soul (tattva sambandhi bhool). According to him, this is a great heinous crime (maha bhayankara papa) which makes one continuously wander in the transmigratory existence (sansara) till he rectifies that mistake. 184 This statement is a gross distortion of Kundakunda's views.
Attachment, aversion and deluded-view (mithya darshan, not mithyatva), according to Kundakunda, are the cause of influx and bondage of karmas (SS 177-178) as well as of transmigratory existence (sansara). The various misperceptions and misconceptions entertained by Kanjipanthi regarding good (shubha) and righteousness (punya) have already been discussed earlier.
For the destruction of infatuation (moha) and for obtaining or acquiring or acquisition of enlightened world-view, knowledge and conduct, Bharill observes, one has to merely (matra) know the supreme soul (paramatma). Except knowing, he claims, one does not have to do anything else. Paramatma, he argues, is other (para) than self. Nevertheless, as “a consequence of knowing paramatma (arihant] one is able to know one's own soul or self (atma) and he who knows one's
