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इष्टोपदेश
ওও
sure soon to reap the benefit of his knowledge, and attain to the supreme status outside the painful dreary realm of transmigration and the kingdom of Death. For the soul being actually divine by nature, its divinity remains unrealized only just so long as it is ignorant of itself and devotes all its time to the pursuit of the non-self. Hence, when Self-knowledge has dispelled the thick mists of ignorance and set its natural energy of dispassion in opposition to the forces of karma the destruction of the latter becomes only a question of time, and is encompassed, generally, in the course of three or four incarnations, when it is loft, as the result of the process of selfrealization, as a pure Spirit, all-knowing, immortal and eternally blissful, a pure and real Divinity, second to none in the three worlds, and the object of devotion and worship on the part of devas (celestials) and men.
इष्टोपदेशमिति सम्यगधीत्य धीमान, मानापमानसमतां स्वमताद्वितन्य ॥
मुक्ताग्रहो विनिवसन्सजने वने वा मुक्तिश्रियं निरुपमामुपयाति भव्यः ॥५१॥ The wise bhavya* who has well understood the teaching of the "Ishtopadesha." and who maintains the serenity of the mind by the effort of his will when he is respected as well as when disrespect is shown to him, and who has freed himself from the attachment to the non-self, obtains the matchless treasure of moksha, whether he live in a city or in a jungle!
Note :-Faith in the glorious nature of the Self and the mental equanimity are the chief things necessary for the obtainment of release from the cycle of births and deaths (transmigration). The rule with faith is that it never fails to translate itself into action, sooner or later, since belief is the builder and noulder of character, and the controller of impulses. For this reason, even the greatest sinner need not despair, and if he will intelligently try to understand the teaching herein imparted and apply himself to put faith into it he will soon find himself travelling on the road to saintship Whether he walks towards it or travels in some more speedy way, will depend on the nature of the obstruction that might be offered by the karmas of his previous like. But even the worst of karmas begin to lose their power under the loosening influence of the Right Faith, and are speedily destroyed by the scorching fire of Right Knowledge. Mental equanimity is speedily reached in this manner, and the rest becomes easy by a constant meditation on the "Ishtopadesha which is the Discourse Divine a name of the book in the reader's hand !
*The soul that is endowed with realizable potentiality for the attainment of salvation is termed bhavya, while the abhavya (a=not + bhavya) is the soul that is potentially divine like the bhavya, but with a portentiality that is not realizable into actuality.
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