On Life and Liberation

Author(s): Mukesh Chhajer
Publisher: Mukesh Chhajer

Page 13

On Life and Liberation
mental food. For this, one does not need to go to forest or lock one-self up in a room but one needs to reduce the actions and attachments of all sorts. Even if one has to perform actions, the should be performed with total detachment to the resulting fruits of the actions, following the principles outlined in Bhagavad Gita. An action so performed will not leave any impression on the mind and, therefore, will not bind any karma. While it is important to be aware of our actions and underlying motives and intentions at all times, it is even more so on the day of upvaas. If the motives are not pure, the effectiveness of upvaas will be reduced towards progress of the soul to realize its true self.
Once, one has attained some mastery over physical and sensual faculties, one can embark on the mental upvaas. Once the flow of thoughts is first controlled and then slowly stopped, the contemplation on the soul can begin. Contemplation on the soul is not a forced process like reading a book or working on a research problem where one is consciously thinking about it. Contemplation on the soul is possible only when the question about the nature of soul, its functions and its relationship with the material world arise naturally as one slowly detaches from the material world. One can consciously force the mind to think about all these questions but that would not lead to real understanding because these questions then would be answered by the mind that is still bound to the world, and therefore, the answers would be colored by the state of mind. The real answers are obtained when the question arises naturally and the answer is arrived at intuitively. That state can arise when the mind is free from all thoughts and in its purest state. When the mental upvaas is complete one is able to comprehend the meaning of such questions. It is easy to understand why our tirthankaras and other kevalis undertook such long upvaas before they attained the Keval-jnana. The purpose of their long