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JAIN JOURNAL
Chapter VIII : Resurrection
The real cause of trouble lies in the fact that we consider the body to be the man, which is not correct. A story is told in the Yoga Vāśiştha of a war between devas and the powers of darkness. The leader of the latter forces one day created, by his power of māyā, three asuras without ahamkāra, and sent them to fight the devas. The latter fought hard against them but in vain. Their egoless opponents had no fear of destruction on account of the absence of ahamkāra, and proved invincible. The devas thereupon sought the advice of Brahma, who told them that their enemies could not be killed unless they developed ahamkāra within them. When asked as to how they were to proceed to create the sense of ahankāra in their enemies, he suggested that they should constantly draw the asuras into the battle-field and then retire before them. The reason assigned for this queer method of warfare was that by their constantly pretending to fight and running away the vāsanā of ahamkāra would begin to reflect itself in the minds of the dreaded asuras, as a shadow in glass and they would be caught, like rats, in the trap of egoity. The devas carried out the advice of Brahma, and a long period of time elapsed during which )this queer warfare was carried on to the great chagrin and irritation of the asuras. Gradually, the sense of egoity stole into the minds of the invincible demons, and fear took hold of their hearts. The devas no longer found them invulnerable, and speedily overpowered them.
The lesson to be learnt from the story is described in the Yoga Vāśiştha, in the following words :
"In the three worlds there are three kinds of ahamkāras. Of these, two kinds of ahamkāras are always beneficial and one always condemnable. That iñāna which after discrimination enables us to cognise that all the worlds and Paramātman are ourselves, that the self or 'I' is eternal and that there is no other to be meditated upon than our self is the Supreme Ahamkāra. That jñāna which makes us perceive our own self to be more subtle than the tail end of paddy and to be ever existent, exterior to (or above) all the universe, is the second kind of ahamkāra. These two kinds of ahamkāras will certainly be found in the Jivan-muktas and will enable them to attain mokşa after crossing samsāra ; but will never subject them to bondage. That certain knowledge which identifies the 'l' with the body composed of the hands, feet, etc., is the third kind of ahamkāra. This is common to all persons of the world and dire in its results. It is the cause of the growth of the poisonous tree of rebirths. It should be destroyed at all costs."
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