Book Title: Samkit Faith Practice Liberation
Author(s): Amit B Bhansali
Publisher: Amit B Bhansali

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Page 256
________________ The Jinaas have said that, 'Ege aayaa'. The souls of all living beings are similar. This is the stage of clear perception of the soul, this is the advaita bhaavanaa (non-duality. It is the beauty of samyaktva that a person who attains samyaktva sees all other living beings as he sees himself. This serves to block sinful tendencies. (If you see others as yourself, how could you harm them?) The fourth gunsthaanaka (stage of spiritual development is the first level of samyaktva. Without crossing the fourth gunsthaanaka, the soul cannot reach the fifth gunsthaanaka. This means that until and unless the soul learns to discriminate between truth and falsehood, heya {worth forsaking} and upaadeya {worth adopting}, beneficial and harmful through the means of samyaktva, even the pursuit of nonviolence and truth cannot be fully accomplished. There exists nothing in the universe, which could break apart the soul. The soul exists in its unitary form wherever it resides, irrespective of body, gender, appearance or life form. Life exists in myriad forms. One person is a saint while the other is a sinner. One living being is a human, another is a beast. One is dark, the other is fair. One who has attained samyaktva does not discriminate between them. He sees only the souls (aatma tattva) of others. Using the transcendental viewpoint, he finds them all to be equals. Aardakkumara, Chandakaushika, Nandishena, Arjunmaalii, Meghakumara are amongst the many great men who saw the light but then lost their way because of delusion causing karmas. But Lord Mahavira did not hate them or reject them. He adumbrated the doctrine to them again and awakened their souls. Once again, the light of consciousness and self-awareness lit up their souls. Similarly, the samyakdrishti does not hate or loathe one who is a sinner, corrupt, fallen or has bad conduct. And he is firmly convinced that such persons can be reformed because he has realised that all souls are similar and that each of them has the spark of divinity. The samyakdrishti knows that to call anyone bad or fallen is a great insult not to the person but to his soul. It is a disregard of a soul, which is potentially as pure as the transcendental souls. The samyakdrishti has firm conviction in the invincible soul and his mind is constantly occupied with nonviolence, empathy and compassion. The samyakdrishti realises the true nature of consciousness, which is the ultimate, unchanging truth. He can perceive this vast continuous consciousness. The nature of the soul is the same. Each soul feels happiness and sorrow in the same way. The basic molecules of water are the same, but when combined in different fashion, they take on different forms. Similarly, at the fundamental level, all souls are the same. There is no difference in them. If they look different, it is because of the presence of certain karmas. Thus, the samyakdrishti does not differentiate between souls based on their external differences, as he knows that all souls are equal innately. 253

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