Golden Steps To Salvation

Author(s): Padmasagarsuri
Publisher: Arunoday Foundation

Page 26

2. DETACHMENT
DEAR PEOPLE PURSUING THE PATH OF DETACHMENT!
Lord Mahāvira, the supreme embodiment of sublime renunciation considered detachment essential for the attainment of deliverance.
ममत्तं छिन्दए ताए
महा नागोव्व कंचुयम् ॥ Mamattam chindaye tāaye
Mahā nagouvai Kanchuyam. "Just as a snake discards its skin, a sādhak (one who is striving to attain spiritual elevation) must discard his attachments."
Soon after his birth, man is engulfed in attachments. Man's whole life is wasted in thoughts relating to attachments such as : “My parents, my play-things, my neighbours, my friends, my body, my family, my house etc." Man becomes bitterly disappointed and profoundly grieved and he begins lamenting pitiably when the objects he loves become disfigured or destroyed or lost or stolen. A great poet employing an appropriate figure of speech in a beautiful manner has expressed this idea in the following stanza:
यस्मिन् वस्तुनि ममता मम तापस्तत्र तत्रैव ।
यत्रवाऽहमुदासे तत्र मुदाऽऽसे स्वभावसंतुष्टः ॥ Yasmin Vastuni mamatā
Mama tāapastathra tatraiva Tatraivahamudase
Tatra mudase swabhāvasantushtah.
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