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.... the thought of Soul does not sprout
Identifying a Sadguru is essential for the pursuit of the threefold path. A jiva begins to feel the dearth of a Sadguru only after the urge to pursue the goal of Atma arises. Only then does the jiva go out in search of one.
Ajiva in pursuit of the worldly affairs somehow finds several guides on the worldly path and from them it manages to pick up some refinement, some knowledge. The jiva even manages to test both his fortune and efforts and even earns something out of it. But after having achieved everything, when it feels something amiss within, when some inadequacy bothers it, it is then that it wakes up and starts the search for a Guru.
In the previous Gatha, we were told as to what sort of a Guru is to be identified and the wonderful qualities in a Guru were detailed. The greatness of such a virtuous Guru should be carried within us, and hence Srimadji now says
प्रत्यक्ष सद्गुरु सम नहीं, परोक्ष जिन उपकार,
pat anterian fahl, 3 7 311Haur .....?
In the present age, when the great Jina is not bodily amidst us, there is only one true and strong recourse left to us and that is Sadguru'.
The Lord Jina gave us the scriptures, himself strode the path of dedication and opened up the same path for us. Indeed, had the great Tirthankars not delineated dharma for us, and had the Ganadhars and their lineage of disciples not included those sermons in the Agams, today we would have been bereft of an invaluable heritage, we would have been poor without it. The Agams formed by the omniscient are our greatest treasure. Hence there indeed is an indirect benevolence by the Lord Jineshwar. But if there is anybody who could explain this path indicated by the Jina and lead on it, it is the Sadguru alone. Who else can explain?
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