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INTRODUCTION.
impure thought-activity, whether a sinful act is committed or not. Though the thought-activity proceeds from some object or the other, it is not the object but the thought-activity that is responsible for bondage (237-287).
A person, bounden in shackles, cannot get himself released, if he simply thinks of shackles without thinking of breaking them; so a man in samsara must break the bonds of karman that he might be completely free. The chisel of self-discrimination will help him to cut off these karmic shackles, and then the pure self is realised (288-307).
XLVIT'
In the case of an Ajñānin the fruition of karman leads to further bondage, while the Jñänin feels spiritually light, when the karman gives its fruit. It is wrong to accept absolute denial of agency in the case of Jiva as done by Samkhyas (340), because thereby the relation of cause and effect and of doer and enjoyer cannot be established. The psychic states of attachment and aversion are seen in the soul and not in material objects. It is the alert sense of absolute non-attachment that 1aises the soul to great heights of spiritual magnanimity. Knowledge and self are perfectly identical, neither less nor more; nor knowledge can be found elsewhere, nor be identified with anything else. Leaving all external emblems one should apply himself to the pursuit of liberation and be ever absorbed in oneself, so that eternal bliss might be achieved.
CRITICAL REMARKS ON SAMAYASĀRA.-Samayasara is considered by the Jainas to be the best work of Kundakunda, and its contents, according to the orthodox opinion, are too sacred to be lead by house-holders; the reasons are quite plain: the work deals mainly with spiritual topics such as bheda-vijñana; the discussion is from S'uddha nis'caya point of view, and the Vyavahāra point is explained only to avoid possible misunderstandings; and lastly the spiritual statements from Nis'caya-naya may prove socially and ethically harmful to the house-holders who are almost absolutely lacking in spiritual discipline. The majority of the statements are in a reflective and meditational tone sometimes even in the first person. The aim of the author is to impress on the readers that ignorance resulting from karmic association has barred many a soul from self-realisation; so every aspirant must rise above all attachment and realise the soul as absolutely pure, sentient, omniscient and completely distinct from lifeless stuff (ajiva): this is the highest pitch of Jaina spiritual teaching. The author takes it for granted that his leaders are already acquainted with Jaina terminology, and he goes on brooding over the real nature of the soul, sometimes distinguishing it from matter, sometimes discussing the nature of karman, its influx, bondage etc., and sometimes showing the way of stopping and exhausting the karman. There is a simplicity and directness in his utterances which appear like the attempts of the author to express the incommunicable which he himself has experienced. He is very fluent, jubilant and exhilarated, when he goes on reflecting on the pure nature of the self. It is no wonder, therefore, if he has not cared for what is called systematic exposition seen for instance in his works like Caritta-pahuḍa. He would repeat ideas and sentences just to make the topic
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