________________
Samayasāra
Chapter - 7 (Taha) Much in the same way (nāņi vi jaiyā hu ņāṇasahāvam sayam pajahidūņa) only if a sage, himself, abandons his right knowledge (annāņeņa parinado) and indulges in perversion (taiyā annānadam gacche) then and only then his knowledge becomes perverted.
Annotations :
In these verses, the author makes use of another analogy to illustrate the rule that the soul itself is the sole determinant of its state of purification or corruption. Here the analogy is that of a conch which is famous for its intrinsic whiteness. Conch is the spiral shell of a large gastropod (shell-fish) and is used for ceremonial purposes in temples. It is stated in the analogy that the gastropod habitually takes in a large variety of animate (seacreatures), inanimate and mixed objects as food during its life time, but its shell does not lose its famous shining whiteness. That is the variety of external objects has no effect on the intrinsic whiteness of the conch. Much in the same way, an enlightened sage, during his lifetime, enjoys all sorts of animate, inanimate and mixed objects, but none of them has any adverse effect on the inherent inalienable quality of the soul, that is, the right knowledge (Jñāna) of the enlightened sage is not blackened to perverted knowledge (Ajñāna). Again, in the case of the conch the blackness may tarnish the whiteness due to some internal biological action. Similarly, the knowledge of an enlightened sage may be transformed into perverted one due to the loss of the soul's own internal purified state. The gist is-the knowledge will be right and pure as long as the soul remains pure, and it becomes perverted by the impurity of the soul itself. The external objects have no potency to convert the intrinsic quality of the soul.
Actions of an Enlightened Sage are
without any Desire for Reward पुरिसो जह को वि इहं वित्तिणिमित्तं तु सेवदे रायं।
तो सो वि देदि राया विविहे भोगे सुहूप्पादे॥३२॥ puriso jaha ko vi iham vittinimittam tu sevade rāyam.
to so vi dedi rāyā vivihe bhoge suhüppāde..32 . एमेव जीवपुरिसो कम्मरयं सेवदे सुहणिमित्तं।
-*-:171:- Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
