Ratnakarandaka Shravakachar

Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp Printers

Page 15

Preface
particular (vićeşa - concerning the mode, paryāya) attributes can be the subject of knowledge. Substance without its modification and modification without its substance cannot be the subject of valid knowledge; only their combination can be the subject of knowledge. He goes on to clarify certain other burning issues and misconceptions. He asserts that both fate and human-effort are jointly responsible for desirable and undesirable effects. The desirable and undesirable effects that one begets without premeditation should be understood due primarily to one's fate (daiva). The desirable and undesirable effects that one begets in consequence of premeditation should be understood due primarily to one's human-effort (pauruşa). Further, he asserts that our auspicious (viếudhi) or inauspicious (saīklesa) kinds of dispositions cause the influx of meritorious (punya) or demeritorious (pāpa) karmas. We are told that bondage (bandha) is caused due to ignorance (ajñāna) accompanied by delusion (moha), and bondage is not caused due to ignorance (ajñāna) not accompanied by delusion (moha). Highlighting the indispensability of syāduāda, it is asserted that syādvāda, the doctrine of conditional predications, and kevalajñāna, omniscience, are both illuminators of the substances of reality. The difference between the two is that while kevalajñāna illumines directly, syādvāda illumines indirectly.
Ratnakarandaka-śrāvakācāra, comprising 150 verses, is a celebrated and perhaps the earliest Digambara work dealing with the excellent path of dharma that every householder (śrāvaka) must follow. All his efforts should be directed towards the acquisition and safekeeping of the Three Jewels (ratnatraya), comprising right faith (samyagdarśana), right knowledge (samyagjñāna) and right conduct (samyakcăritra), which lead to releasing him from worldly sufferings and establishing him in the state of supreme happiness. The treatise expounds an easy-to-understand meaning of ‘right faith': To have belief, as per the Reality, in the sect-founder or deity (āpta or deva), the scripture (āgama or sāstra), and the preceptor (tapobhrt or guru). It specifies criteria to distinguish between the real and the counterfeit
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