Jinamanjari 2001 04 No 23

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 59

deals with human birth and how difficult it is to obtain it. Śrīmad says, this human form can not be obtained very very easily. It can be achieved through the accumulation of good deeds only. Therefore one must hurry and try to realise one's own self. The Uttarādhyayana Sūtra, one of the scriptures of Svetāmbara sect of the Jains mentions four states, which are most difficult to achieve.
1. It is rare to obtain human birth. 2. After obtaining human birth, it is difficult to obtain or grasp the teachings of the great benefactor saints, 3. It is also very difficult to have faith in the teachings. 4. Finally, it is again extremely difficult to make proper efforts to follow those teachings and to adopt the religious discipline advised therein.
śrīmad wants us to know the true meaning and the true value of human life. Once this is understood, he presumes, one would not waste a single moment of one's life in futile activities. It is possible, however, to get rid of all karmas and to detach one's own soul by engaging in meritorious deeds. This way, one can make a steady progress in one's efforts of obtaining absolute knowledge of the soul. Śrīmad regretfully says in the very first verse that although one has achieved the birth as a human being, one is not able to free oneself from the bondage of the cycle of birth and rebirth. According to the karma theory, every soul goes round and round in the cycle of life and death, passing through four types of beings: hellish, animal, human and divine until it achieves mokşa, or the final liberation from this cycle of births and rebirths.
śrīmad asks a direct question in the second verse: "Tell me what has really been gained with the expansion of wealth and power? And take heed, what is achieved by expanding the family ? Real gain in the ocean of life (samsāra) lies in loosing the human form." But Alas!" Śrímad again regretfully says, "This thought never occurred to you for a single momentin The above point forms the basis of Jain philosophy. One of the five