On Life and Liberation

Author(s): Mukesh Chhajer
Publisher: Mukesh Chhajer

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On Life and Liberation
of bondage, the jiva is stuck in the material world of wealth, possessions, passions etc. Due to false understanding, a jiva considers them as the real purpose of life, makes them its abode and remains engrossed in the material world. Therefore, quality of attachment is adharma; the cause that stops the journey of the soul towards its final destination (liberation) and invites it to rest. It should be kept in mind that an object of attachment is not adharma but it is the quality of attachment that itself is adharma because same object can evoke different responses from different people. In a more practical sense, we might say that attachment to anything other than one's own soul is adharma. On the other hand, those jivas who are not lured by material world move on. The qualities that lead a jiva to continue its journey towards liberation are non-attachment and dispassion. Non-attachment and dispassion are the results of overcoming various negative tendencies associated with different charkas. These charkas can be purified by activating the kundalini shakti as described earlier. The soul by itself is pure but due to the interaction with pudgal particles has become impure and bound. This boundedness results in body and mind. While the body is temporary and stays with a jiva for only a short duration from a few moments to may be millions of years (from the point of view of the journey of the jiva, even million years is but a short duration), the mind is always with it till it attains liberation. Thus, this journey of the jiva is nothing but the journey of the mind. If the mind is attached to the material world, then the jiva has come to rest. However, if the mind attains the quality of detached state then it continues to move towards its goal of liberation. Thus, attitude of attachment is adharma and detached attitude is dharma. They are one, cannot be divided and pervade the whole loka-akash, i.e., body. However, a jiva may show different amount of attachment or detachment towards various objects depending upon its accumulation of karmic particles. The different types of attachment (such as attachment to money,
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