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296 Harmless Souls
and always dwell there; do not dwell among other substances. (412) The essential self is not known by those who are attached to the various kinds of ascetic or householder characteristic marks. (413) Although the conventional view holds that there are two (kinds of marks) on the path to liberation, by the absolute view one does not wish for any marks on the path to liberation. (414) That conscious being who, having read this Samayaprābhrta and understood its true meaning, holds to that meaning, will attain the highest bliss. (415)
In our examination of Pravacanasāra 3:5 and 3:6,32 we saw that the end of rebirth, and thus the attainment of liberation, is brought about by the adoption of certain pure modes of thought and behaviour. It is these which constitute the defining characteristic (linga) of the Jain. We also noted that, although Amstacandra splits linga into two categories, the external (bahir) and the internal (antara),33 in social terms there can only really be one set of linga, the external, since an individual's internal state can only be demonstrated and evaluated through his external behaviour. With that in mind, it becomes clear that when both Amrtacandra and Jayasena, in their commentaries on this concluding passage from the Samayasāra, say that the linga being referred to are simply dravyalinga, they do little to temper the radical social implications of Kundakunda's total abandonment of linga.34
The first question to be asked of the Samayasāra passage quoted above is who is being referred to by the term pāsamdiya [408 = JGM 438], Jaina or non-Jaina ascetics? According to Monier-Williams, pāşanda is a
32 See pp. 217-222, above. 33 See p. 219.
34 Jayasena makes the distinction between bhāva and dravya linga, i.e. what belongs to the self and what does not, and perhaps also with the sense of internal' and 'external' - see Tātparyavrttih on JGM 438 and 439.
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