Mokshamala

Author(s): Manu Doshi
Publisher: Manu Doshi

Page 63

(Liberation). Some of then are worth adopting, some are worth knowing and others are to be averted; all of them, however, need to be understood.
v) We have given an idea of the means of knowledge, but let us get into some details. One needs to correctly make out the commands of Lords and their true significance. There are very few, who can make that out by themselves, the only alternative is to make out from the disentangled and enlightened Gurus; the detached enlightened ones are the best. The Guru, who sows the seed of faith and nourishes the same, constitutes the means. Moreover, retreating from the worldly life in the form of calming down defilement, restraint, celibacy etc. are the supporting means; they can also be termed as the ways of gaining the means.
vi) The usefulness of knowledge or the outcome thereof is implicit in what has been said. As regards time, it is worth mentioning that one should spare at least two Ghadies (48 minutes) of a day and contemplate over the fundamentals laid by the omniscient Lords. With all possible discernment I can state that repeatedly contemplating over even one word of the omniscient Lord would lead to a high level of Kshayopasham (Destruction cum calm-down) of knowledge-obscuring Karma.
Lesson 81: Fifth era
It is very necessary to know about the time cycles. The Lords have divided the time cycles in two parts, viz. an ascending part called Utsarpini and a descending part called Avasrpini. Each of them is subdivided in six eras termed as Aräs (Spokes of a wheel). The present time is a part of fifth Arä. It constitutes the fifth era of the prevailing Avasarpini. That term denotes a deteriorating side of the time cycle. The pattern of general behavior in the present era as predicted by the enlightened seers is worth knowing about.
It is predicted that faith of common men in the words of disentangled Lords would continue to go down during the fifth era; the difference of opinions about the fundamentals would increase; fake and fraudulent beliefs would be set up: the people would tend to turn towards irreligious activities; truth and compassion would gradually lose ground; infatuation and other vices would grow; hypocrite and sinful Gurus would be considered worshipful; the wicked people would succeed in their nefarious plans; sweet-speaking cunning people would be treated as holy; those observing celibacy and other restraints would be treated as unclean; various types of spiritual knowledge would disappear; purposeless rituals would grow and the people would mostly resort to those based on ignorance; means of sensuous pleasure would proliferate; one-sided beliefs would have an edge and embellishment would be considered an essential part of religion.
Moreover, the fate of the country would be lamentable in absence of true warriors, the worthless princes would get enamored of prostitutes and they will lose morality, duties and true statesmanship; injustice would prevail and they would extract from the public as much as possible; they would indulge in sinful activities, force the people to observe the same and the royal vigor would be reduced to zero. The wicked secretaries would rise to high positions; they will advise the kings to fill the treasury by extorting the poor people, prompt them to indulge in adultery and other sinful activities like hunting, and endeavor to root out valor and other virtues. The officials of the state would pose to have thousand times more authority than they have. Brahmins would be greedy and fall victim to temptation; they would bury the true learning and depict the religion of worldly comforts. The trading class would be increasingly deceitful, selfish and hardhearted.
Wholesome tendency of all classes of people would thus go down; they would not hesitate from undertaking inappropriate and wicked activities. Discernment, reverence, straightforwardness and other virtues would go down and compassion would cease to exist. There would be greater affection for wives than for mothers, greater for sons than for husbands: there will be fewer women observing strict monogamy. Purity would be considered in taking bath and nobility in wealth. Pupils would behave against the directions of Guru and the fertility of land would go down. In short, there would be deterioration in superior aspects and acceleration of inferior ones.