________________
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM
157
ment.
before Indra and Koņika became victorious. Once we have surrendered ourselves to truth, we gain unlimited strength.
There are other difficulties in sådhanā. These are presented by infatuation, inactivity and laziness. They attack us on behalf of delusion time and again. There are two kinds of weapons, weapons which strike the enemy directly and those which strike him indirectly. Tanks and guns strike the enemy directly. Spies, especially charming and enticing female spies, attack the enemy indirectly. Innumerable female spices are engaged in collecting information about the enemy. They have become indispensable for every government.
Delusion is an enticing weapon used against a practitioner. In a state of delusion we feel as if we have gained every thing and that nothing remains to be done. In such a case we lose the sense of direction. Bhagavān Mahāvīra said : "Selfnegligence produces fear." A self-negligent man is always afraid of something or the other. He idles away his time and loses his opportunity.
There was a king. He wanted to appoint a minister. He interviewed a few persons. He made them sit in a room and said: I will now lock the room. I will appoint him as my minister who would open the door and come out. Every one wondered how to open the locked door. They were in a quandary. Six of them sat idly. The seventh was a clever man. He thought that there was some secret in what the king had said. He went to the door and pushed it forcibly open. The king had made a fool of them. He liad not locked the door. He wanted to test these men and to know who among them were men without initiative. Six of them became deluded and thought that the door could not be opened. The seventh man had initiative and succeeded.
The path of sådhanā is beset with delusions which mislead the practitioner and render him inactive. It is initiative which leads him through delusions. According to the Jaina tradition Jambũ Svämi was the last man to become emancipated. No body after him has been able to gain Avadhi-jñāna and Manahparyaya-Jñana. This tradition had a deluding effect with the result that people stopped taking any interest in Yogic practices.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
