ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 02

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 351

INTERNATION
SCHOOL
OF
SELF STUDY IS THE
SUPREME AUSTERITY
स्वाध्याय परम
STUDIES
No happiness with laziness, no knowledge with sleep, no detachment with possessiveness and non compassion with negligent activities.
A lamp lights hundreds of others lamps and himself also remains lighted; so are the preceptors; like a lamp they enlighten others and themselves also remain enlighten.
Know that the self is devoid of taste, colour, smell and word, unmanifest and possessed of consciousness, having no profane and physical structure.
I am neither the body, nor the mind, nor speech, nor their cause. Nor am I the agent, nor the inspirer nor the approver of the action.
The saints have proclaimed that vision, knowledge and conduct lead to liberation. They lead to liberation (if right) and to bondage (if wrong).
Just as a fetter, whether made of gold or iron, binds, similarly an action, whether good or bad, binds the person.
Yet, it is better to attain heaven by observance of vows and penance than to suffer in hell by violation. There is a lot of difference between the two one waiting in shade and the other in hot sun.
One knows the reality by knowledge, establishes faith in it by (right) vision, grasps it by conduct and purifies it by austerity.
Just as a lotus leaf remains aloof from water (even thought very much in it) by its very nature, the righteous person remains mentally unaffected by passions and objects of
senses.
He is to be considered a person with right perspective, who with a detached mind does not aspire for the fruits of his actions or for the attributes of worldly objects.
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STUDY NOTES version 5.0