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Chapter - 9
Samayasăra and for all. The above verses describe the process and technique of spiritual purification.
The process of disentanglement (of the Self from the Non-self) is a based on the fact that the characteristic attributes of each is fundamentally different and the difference is recognizable. As in the case of gold the nature and worthlessness of the corrupting ore is known, so also the nature and worthlessness of the polluting karmic matter is known. And so, the first step in the process of separation prescribes that the beginningless infatuation for the worthless karmic matter and its bondage must be abandoned.
Now a process of separation envisages the need of an apparatus which must be reliable and capable of doing the job efficiently. Also the apparatus must be equipped with a proper tool. Here the author prescribes a chisel-like tool which if used properly, is capable of producing a well marked line of cleavage between the two entities and make them fall apart. Such a tool is called Discriminative Wisdom (Prajñā).
And how is this wonderful instrument, discriminative wisdom (prajñā) to be secured? It is obtained by developing the capacity for Self-concentration/Self-meditation. For this, firstly it is necessary to concentrate upon the self as distinct and separate from the body. The soul acquires more and more power for selfconcentration (meditation) along with the increase of its purity and consequent attainment of the corresponding stages of spiritual development. When one is able to, mentally, separate the self from the body and is fully convinced of the distinction between the self and the non-self, the next step is to rise still higher and concentrate upon the pure transcendental self which is free from all the limitations of the empirical self. The most important factor in favour of self-meditation, for this purpose, is the fact that both the empirical self and the transcendental self are intrinsically possessed of the same attributes which are unmanifested or less manifest in the former and fully manifest in the latter. To understand fully the method of self-meditation, three states of self are distinguished, viz., the exterior self, (bahirātmā), the interior self (antarātma), and the transcendental self (paramātma). The exterior self is the common empirical ego with the deluded belief that it itself is identical to the body. The interior self, clearly, discriminates itself
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