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Jaina Acara : Siddhanta aura Svarūpa
The Second contemplation is that you are without protection, since death does not take your permission to visit you. No relations, no money, no helpers can save you from the jaws of death. Man, himself a mortal, cannot possibly and reasonably depend on the support of such as are no more than guests themselves. Uttarādhyana says that there was one Anāthī Muni who suffered unbearable pain in his eyes. No medicine, no doctor could help him. Ultimately he became a recluse. The only protection was nothing concrete, none in the world but only piety. Such was the experience of the queen Kamalavati who related it all to the king Isukāra. Pārsvanātha's follower Kess said to Gautama, "The ocean of life is stormy. Fierce crocodiles are more than anxious to devour me. Please tell me of some unfailing protection, if there be any Prompt came the reply that piety alone saves man both here and hereafter".
The Third contemplation is of the cycle of mundance existence. Sthananga talks of four existences : (i) consis.ing of six substances (ii) of the measurement of fourteen cords or strings (iii) consisting of day, night, month etc. (iv) comprising causes of transmigration such as love and hate, attraction and repulsion. From another standpoint there are four moving worlds of denizens of hell,birds, men and gods. Haribhadra says that man has undergone various births.
The lowest form of life is that of vegetation. Its body is very subtle. It is like the tip of a needle which is infested with many vermins. As earth or water-bodies one has suffered untold misery, so also as two, three or four or five-sensed beings. Sthanangasutra specifies the miserable life one lives in hell. To cap it all, human life itself is much more unhappy than happy. You may see hellish tortures in this very world of ours. This contemplation is to take your gaze away from such miserable world.
The Fourth contemplation is that you are alone and yet in company of the soul which is indestructible. Fire cannot burn it. Man may come and man may go but the soul stays. Contemplate that none of your relations is yours, also that you are not theirs. All things of the world are gross but you are not. An inert subtance has little to do with vital consciousness. The body shall perish, but you as self are eternal. When in a crowd. you feel lonely and when alone you wish for others to have a colloquy with you. Truly speaking, you are never alone. You have only to be conscious of the essential you, of your self which untainted is all powerful. It is is atonce with and without image.
The Fifth contemplation is to be certain of your self being distinct from your body. There is milk and a pot containing it. They are two. not one. The relationship is of the container and the contained. The soul is contained in the body that is its container. Joy and sorrow attach to the
surface of soul. You commit the mistake of treating soul and body as one, Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
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