________________
CHAPTER VIII
157
objects, animate and inanimate. In the case of this person who is engaged in the destructive activity by assuming various bodily postures, what is the real explanation for the absence of dustdeposit on his person ? Certainly it is the absence of oily surface that must account for the absence of dust-deposit on his person and not his various bodily activities. In the same way a right believer even while he is engaged in various activities of thought, word, and deed merely because of the absence of feeling of attachment in them, is not bound by karmic particles.
COMMENTARY
In the above gäthäs the causal relation between the feeling of attachment and karmic bondage is established by citing positive instances on the one hand by which the presence of the cause necessarily implies the presence of the effect and also by citing negative instances on the other hand where the absence of the cause implies the absence of the effect, thus adopting the principle which is known in Logic as the Joint Method of Agreement and Difference.
Next the author describes the thoughts characteristic of the nescient and the knowing Self.
जो मण्णदि हिंसामि य हिसिनामि य परेहि सत्तेहि । सो मूढो अण्णाणी गाणी एत्तो दु विवरीदो ॥२४७॥ jo mannadi hiṁsāmi ya himsijjāmi ya parehim sattehim so müdho anņānī ņāņi etto du vivarido (247) यो मन्यते हिनस्मि च हिंस्ये च परैः सत्त्वैः । स मूढोऽज्ञानी ज्ञान्यतस्तु विपरीतः ॥२४७॥
247. He who thinks, "I kill other beings or I am killed by other beings”, is a deluded one, devoid of knowledge. But one who thinks otherwise is the Knower.
COMMENTARY
The above-mentioned thought arises from lack of true knowledge which is the characteristic of wrong belief. But such thoughts are absent in the case of one who knows the true
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
