Book Title: Key to Center of Universe
Author(s): Hermann Kuhn
Publisher: Crosswind Publishing Germany

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Page 14
________________ FASCINATION 13 arrange the components of our daily life in such a way that our consciousness automatically shifts into new modes of operation. This method leads to total independence. It unfolds abilities generally attributed only to supernatural beings. We achieve this not by fickle divine sanction or by surrendering to a guru. The method of the Tattvarthasutra causes - only in step with our own efforts - the gradual dissolution of obstructions that limit our consciousness. In growing self-determination we then recognize our own personal path with ever increasing clarity. The Tattvarthasutra describes exactly how this is achieved. The Tattvarthasutra The Tattvarthasutra is about 1800 years old. Its title translates 'The Text Describing the Purpose of Reality'. It was written in the second or third century AD by the Indian sage Umaswami, who condensed the vast contemporary knowledge of this path in this one work. Yet the knowledge of the Tattvarthasutra is based on still older wisdom. It origins reach far beyond recorded history. There exists evidence of 24 enlightened teachers who taught identical knowledge at much earlier times. Corresponding artifacts have been found in the Indus Valley Culture, the oldest Asian civilization (approx. 3000 BC and before) and the records mentioned in other manuscripts reach even further back. The Tattvarthasutra is regarded as the main work on this path. 'Sutras' (short statements) and their interpretation through commentaries originated in times when paper and other means of material recording did not exist. Knowledge was learned by heart and handed down orally from generation to generation. Sutras therefore were kept as brief as possible. They were governed by precise rules which for example defined the weight of a word by its position alone. To keep knowledge pure, even the commentators followed exact rules. This method worked with such precision that highly Jain Education International For Personal & Private Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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