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THE ESSENCE OF JAINA SCRIPTURES
not different from the class of psychic-attention, the evil attention, which effects sin, cause of pain.
72. If men, hell-inhabitants, animals and gods, have misery, born from the body, then how is there in these souls (distinction of) good and evil psychic-attention?
If even gods, etc., in the plenitude of their merits, gained by good psychic-attention, and the hell-inhabitants, etc., involved in the ruin of sin, due to evil attention, both indistinguishably experience simply misery, conditioned by the body, i.e. by the five sense-organs; then, since both miss innate happiness of transcendental nature (parmarthatah) a relation of separateness (prthaktva) between good and evil psychic-attention does not hold.
Now, having admitted, for the purpose of refutation, a separate fruit-bearing merit, caused by good psychic-attention, he raises a point:
73. Those who, bearing a thunderbolt as weapon (i.e. Indra) or ruling an empire, nourish the body, etc. by enjoyments, due to good psychic-attention, attached thereto, seem to be happy.
Because Shakras and Emperors, thriving in body, etc., by enjoyments available at will, and extremely fond of these pleasures, as leeches of foul blood, give the impression of being happy, therefore fruit-bearing merits are seen to have arisen from good psychicattention.
Now he suggests that the merits just admitted are causes of the germ of misery:
74. Though there are manifold merits, resulting from (good psychic states of) evolution, they make the souls, including those of the gods, to thirst for sense-objects (vishaya trasna).
If it is granted that there exists various merits, whose origin is due to the evolution through good psychic-attention, then these necessarily make a thirst for sense-objects to arise in all the transmigrating souls, including even those whose food is nectar. Assuredly, without thirst the activity of all transmigrating souls towards sense-objects, as of leeches towards bad blood, would not be seen; and it is seen. Let us therefore not deny that merits are a base (ayatana) for such craving or thirst for sense objects.
Now he proclaims the triumph of merit as germ of misery:
75. These souls, then, their thirst roused and made unhappy by thirstings, wish for obtaining till death the pleasures of sense-objects,
