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Metaphysics, Ethics and Spiritual Development
171
passion similar to aversion, but it is not aversion proper, it is simply mad exuberance of infatuation (ignorance, foolishness).
Attachment is nothing but infatuation in its strongest form. It is the paramount ruler of the entire worldly existence. All mental defects and defilements depend on it for their existence. So on its removal they are removed. This is the reason why the supremely pure being is simply called 'vītaraga' (one free from attachment).
Attachment whose objects are living beings is of three types, viz., religious, sectarian and worldly. Attachment of the form of self-elevating devotion to an enlightened great saint or a spiritual teacher is the religious attachment. Again, pure attachment for virtuous qualities is also a case of the religious attachment. As it is of the nature of devotion, it is spiritually beneficial. (Great sage Gautama Indrabhūti had this devotional attachment for Lord Mahāvīra).
Bigotry attachment for the followers and the views of one's own sect is the sectarian attachment' which one should renounce. Attachment for one's own family, relatives, friends, etc., is the worldly attachment. It is of two types--one affection and the other erotic love. Attachment of the form of affection is respectable and praiseworthy if it is pure, that is, not sullied by mental impurities or defilements. Attachment of the form of erotic love has two sub-types viz., the forbidden and the permissible. The proper, decent and moderate erotic love for one's own wife or husband is the permissible erotic love. And the erotic love for the forbidden men or women is the forbidden erotic love.
One should know that attachment for the virtuous qualities is superior to the attachment for an individual having those qualities, even if the attachment for the individual is due to those qualities. Attachment for such a person certainly helps in one's spiritual progress. Nevertheless it
1. kamarāgasneharāgāv işatkaranivaranau/
drstirāgas tu pāpīyān durucchedaḥ satām api //–Vitarāgastotra by Acārya Hemacandra. It is easy to renounce the attachment of the form of erotic love (kamarāga) as also the attachment of the form of affection (sneharāga). But it is very difficult even for the learned and the saints to destroy attachment to one's views (drstirāga), which is of a very evil nature. (Attachment to one's views is the sectarian attachment.] The verse enumerates three attachments, viz., attachment of the form of erotic love, attachment of the form of affection and attachment to one's views. Attachment of the form of devotion, that is, religious attachment is included in the highly pure and spiritually wholesome affection-one of the divisions of affection.
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