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THE ESSENCE OF JAINA SCRIPTURES
turns out to be, like sin, the means of misery.
Now, certifying that there is no difference between merit and demerit, he summarizes:
77. He who will not believe that there is nothing particular or special (vishesha) between merit (punya) and sin (papa) [i.e. there is no difference between the two or the two are similar in the way or sense stated above] moves about, covered with infatuation, in the terrible cycle of transmigratory existence (samsara).
Thus, in the way described, a duality of merit and sin, like a duality of good and evil psychic-attention or of pleasure and pain, does not, according to deeper transcendental reality (paramarthatah), exist; for on both sides equally we have not to do with a property really belonging to the soul.
But he who, conceiving an egotistical (ahankarika) difference between this pair-like two gold and iron fetters!-depending upon the desire or expectation for future sense-pleasures (nidan), thinking "I am the cause (nidana)21 of my prosperity, for instance of my rank as Indra (Lord of Heaven)," still more leans on attachment (anuraga) to righteousness (dharma), experiences bodily misery as long as samsara lasts, his ability for pure psychic-attention being obscured, because the region or wall of his consciousness has become coloured (uparakta).
Having thus settled that there is no particular difference between good and evil psychic-attention, now, dismissing all duality of attachment and aversion, and resolved to destroy misery totally, he abides in pure psychic-attention:
78. He who understands the reality of things thus and no more entertains attachment or aversion towards objects, thereby purifying psychic-attention, puts an end to pain originating from the body.
He who has correctly distinguished the characteristic nature of things, by completely perceiving the identity of the good and evil psychical-states, and completely banishes attachment and aversion towards all objects with all their modifications, dependent as they are upon distinction of self and other, gives up every dependence on other substances, because he is utterly pure in his psychic-attention; and he puts an end to bodily pain; like fire, which, leaving a piece of iron and not adhering to the essence (sara) of the iron, no longer undergoes the series of violent blows by the hammer. Therefore, this pure psychic-attention is my only refuge.
