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Deeply entrenched false belief harms the soul far more than fire, poison and a black cobra ever could.
The Suutrakritanga Suutra states that unworthy people suffer from the disease of false belief and remain stuck in transmigration.
Purity of Samyaktva
Achieving samyaktva is the most difficult thing in the world. This is why the supremely detached Jinaas and learned seers gave instructions on how to retain and protect the purity of samyaktva and how to keep one's soul away from the blemishes that come with errors of understanding and errors of conduct and how to immediately cleanse the soul of any flaws and false beliefs that may have crept in.
The Aavashyaka Suutra cautions the seeker thus:
"Samanovaasaenam sammattassa pancha aiyaaraa peyaalaa jaaniyavvaa na samaayiravvaa" ~Aavashyaka Suutra - Pratikramana Suutra; chapter 5 (Page 39, Publisher: Dariyapuri aathkoti Sthanakwasi Jain Sangh, (Chipaapol) Ahmedabad, year 1997)
The layman must know about the five flaws in samyaktva but should not commit those flaws himself. In spiritual life, purity of perception occupies a central place. Without purity of perception (samyaktva), neither knowledge nor conduct can be blemishless. In the absence of purity of perception, even penance loses purity.
Purity of perception has described as the most important reason in earning birth as a Tirthankara.
"Darshanavishuddhiravinayasampannataa shiilavrateshvanatiichaaro'
bhiikshnajnaanopayogasamvegau shaktitastyaagatapasii saadhusamaadhir vaiyaavrityakaranamarhadAachaarya bahushrutapravachanabhaktirAavashyakaapari
haani maargaprabhaavanaa pravachanavatsalatvami tiTirthankaratvam che"
-Aachaarya Umasvati's "Tattvaarthasuutra", Verse 6.24 (Page 384, Publisher: Yashovijayji Jain Sanskrit Paathsala, Mehsana, year 1979)
The causes of influx of karmas, which cause rebirth as a Tirthankara are:
Purity of perception, reverence for individuals in pursuit of spiritual upliftment, practise of the ethical code without any transgression and with extremely mild passions, steadfast pursuit of the knowledge of reality, firm conviction that the pursuit of physical pleasures is the root cause of painful worldly existence, charity as per one's capacity, penance as per one's capacity, service to ascetics in the pursuit of enlightenment, relieving the sufferings of the virtuous, devotion to the Jinaas, devotion to the sages who preach, devotion to the sages who study the scriptures, devotion to true religious
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