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THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE JAINAS.
चारित्रप्रतिनिबद्धं हि कषायो जिनवरैः परिकथितः।। तस्योदयेन जीवोऽचारित्रो भवति ज्ञातव्यः ॥ १७० ॥...
168, 169 & 170. Right-belief-obscuring (Karma is) wrong-belief. It is said by the Conquerors. By the operation of that (Karma) the soul (is) wrong-believer. Such should be known. The obscuring of right knowledge is said by the Conquerors to be wrong knowledge. By its operation the soul becomes of perverse knowledge. (It) should be known. That which obscures right conduct is said to be passion by the Conquerors. By the operation of that the soul becomes of wrong conduct. It should be known.
Commentary. Meritorious Karmas can never remove the obscurity which has marred the soul's real qualities. Strong meritorious Karmas operate in a soul of celestial body in the last heaven of Sarvartha Siddhi. There he cannot pass beyond the fourth spiritual stage and has to remain confined in heaven for 33-Sagars, a period of innumerable years. In the human sphere Chakravartis have got operation of the strongest kind of merit Karmas. If any Chakravarti is infatuated by them, his soul may go down even to the 7th hell. The only helper to prevent plunging into the deep ocean of world is true self-knowledge and self-realization. A seeker after independent peace and happiness must not have the slightest love for all the good and bad activities of mind, speech and body which cause bondage of Karmas. He should consider both good and bad Karmas as fetters which bind him and obstruct the unfoldment of his own capacities. Both should be believed to be material and foreign to his soul's nature. He should regard self-absorption only as the real cause of happiness. He should become one with Samayasára, the essence of soul, in order to himself become the perfect and pure Samayagára.
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