Mysteries of Mind

Author(s): Mahapragna Acharya
Publisher: Today and Tomorrows Book Agency

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SEARCH FOR EXISTENCE RIGHT VISION
Samvara (stopping the influx of karma into the soul), tapa (austerities), nirjară (eradication of the effect of past actions) akriya (non-action) and siddhi (emancipation). Vijñāna means discernment i.e. the capacity to distinguish between what is desirable and what is not and what is to be taken up and what is to be discarded. This faculty will illuminate the entire path that we are traversing. It comes into operation after śravana and jñāna have been attained. It dispels ignorance which does not enable us to distinguish between what is desirable and what is not. We cannot enter into the stage of pratyākhyāna (renunciation) until we have become enlightened by discernment. Having arrived at this stage, we will automatically give up what is undesirable. Dissociation with what is undesirable naturally results in self-discipline. Self-discipline leads to the state in which there is no further influx of karma. This state is called samvara. Self-discipline is the means of attaining a state in which foreign matter which obstructs our spiritual progress does not enter into us. The next stage of our spiritual progress which is called tapa (austerities) begins after this. We now begin to depend on our internal resources. A commotion begins within us. By means of tapa we achieve the next stage of our spiritual progress. This stage is called nirjarä which means the complete eradication of the adverse effects of past actions on us. Both samvara and nirjară are not means but ends to be achieved. Samvara is achieved by means of self-discipline and nirjara by means of tapa (austerities). When the adverse effects of the deeds we are doing and of the deeds we had done in the past have been fully washed off, we arrive at the stage where there is no further action. The deeds had been things external to the self. The stage we have arrived at is the stage of akriya (non-action). Our entire restlessness as well as Our actional tendencies cease and we achieve a state of complete stability. We become fixed in ourselves as it were, and nothing from within or without can disturb us any more. This state is the state of the emancipation of the soul which is technically called siddhi In this state the soul becomes the seer and the knower par excellence. The pilgrimage we have undertaken is a pilgrimage to attain this end. The real nature of our
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