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THE REFLECTIONS
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accompany me beyond the cemetery. Virtue alone is my neverfailing companion.' This is the contemplation of solitariness. He who contemplates thus is free from attachment towards his friends and aversion towards his enemies. So he cultivates dutachment and endeavours to attain emancipation. (4). " To reflect that the self is distinct and separate from the body is the contemplation of distinctness or differentiation. 'Though I am one with the body from the point of view of bondage, yet I am different from it, as we possess different characteristics. The body is made up of sense-organs, but I am devoid of the senses. The body is devoid of knowledge, but I am of the essence of knowledge. The body is perishable, but I am imperishable. My body has a begipning and an end, but my soul has neither beginning nor end. In the course of my mundane existence, hundreds of thousands of bodies of mine have perished. I am different from all these bodies. Oh, dear! When such is the ease, what relation is there between me and external objects?' He who contemplates thus is free from attachment towards his body and other things. This leads to supreme detachment based on true knowledge, which helps the self to attain emancipation. (5)
The body is the receptacle of impurities. It is developed from impurities such as semen and blood in the womb. It is the seat of unclean things like the lavatory. The skin-covering is full of apertures through which exude impurities. Like fire the body consumes quickly what comes in contact with it. Bathing, application of perfumes, incense, powder, garlands, etc. cannot remove the impurities of the body. Right faith, right knowledge and right conduct alone will bring about the complete purification of the soul. He, who thus contemplates on the impurities of the body, is disgusted with the body and endeavours to cross the ocean of transmigration. (6)
Influx, stoppage and dissociation (of karmas) have been described already. Still they are mentioned here for reflecting on their good and evil. Influx leads to calamity and distress in this life and in the life to come. The senses, the passions and non-abstinence lead to as speedy influx as the current of a
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