________________
“Dvaaram muulam pratishthaanam aadhaaro bhaajanam nidhih. Dvishatkasyaasya dharmasya samykaktvam paarikiirtitam" Aachaarya Umasvati. Tattvarthabhashya Samyagdharshana, (Page 60, Author: Ashokmuni, Publisher: Diwaakarjyoti Karyaalaya, Byaawar (Rajasthan), year 1981)
Samyaktva is proclaimed as the gateway to the 12-fold path (12 vrats) of the lay follower (shraavak's). It is the basis, the foundation, the reservoir and the treasury of the layman's path.
Samyaktva is the first reason for liberation
Contemplating on the subject, it is evident that samyaktva is the starting point on the journey of liberation. Liberation means permanent freedom from all karmic bondage. Karmic bondage is caused by attachment, aversion, delusion, false beliefs, ignorance, etc. Since the attainment of samyaktva leads to penance, name recitation, periods of equanimity, meditation, the following of vows and rules designed to ensure non-violent conduct, the samyaktva is a cause for the shedding of karmas. The soul sheds bound karmas in proportion to the absence of attachment and aversion from the basic disposition of the soul. Hence, we may state that samyaktva is the primary cause of liberation. It is the game changer which takes the soul on the path of liberation and helps it progress on the path.
Samyaktva is the license for liberation
Samyaktva is the immersion of the self in the shuddha bhaava {pure, blemishless, immaculate and pristine disposition. This is beyond any argument. Samyaktva helps the seeker develop deep unshakeable faith in the pristine disposition. Consequently, the seeker first begins to lose interest in ashubha bhaava {inauspicious disposition and later in shubha bhaava {auspicious disposition. Many people think that shubha bhaava {auspicious disposition is dharma and the cause of liberation. But from the doctrinal perspective, the auspicious disposition is concomitant with the flaw of attachment. Because it is a positive form of attachment, it leads to the inflow of meritorious karmas (punya) and not demeritorious karmas. However, the inflow of any kind of karma is harmful to the soul. It cannot cause the shedding of karmas and the attainment of liberation. A soul, which lacks samyaktva and has false belief, but has good conduct and a huge stock of punya, can rise upto the ninth graiveyaka heaven. Its lack of samykatva causes its downfall as soon as its stock of punya is exhausted and the soul descends from heaven to be reborn either as a living being in nigoda {category of life where the lowest forms of life reside in endless numbers without any hope of release by self-effort} or as a plant of some variety. Hence, even auspicious dispositions lead to worldly transmigration not liberation. A pristine disposition is the one and only cause for liberation. Of those who lack samyaktva many ignorant people remain stuck on the auspicious disposition and seldom rise beyond it. Subsequent to the attainment of samyaktva, the seeker intrinsically develops a keen interest in the pristine disposition. And this interest in pristine meditation is truly the license to attain liberation. One who has attained samyaktva even once, his stay in transmigration becomes limited.
270
