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"Jam sakkai tam kiirai jam na sakkai tayammi saddahanam
Saddahamaano jiivo vachchai ayaraamaram thaanam"
Dharmasangraha, Verse 2.1.21 (Page 81, Author: Upaadhyaaya Maanvijayaji, Publisher: Jain Vidyaa Shaalaa Trust, Ahmedabad, (Gujarat), year V.S.2029)
Follow the rules of conduct to the fullest extent of your ability. Where you are unable to follow, keep the faith. Faith itself can lead you towards the exalted state of liberation, which is free from death, sickness and old age.
Samyaktva and its Unblemished State
Whenever we talk about samyaktva, we talk about how it should be pure, unblemished and unsullied by attachment and aversion. And only unblemished samyaktva is true samyaktva. Is it possible for all to attain this state of samyaktva?
Only the supremely detached ones can attain unblemished samyaktva. Souls from the 4th stage of spiritual development (gunasthaanaka) to the 10th stage of spiritual development (gunsthaanaka) are not absolutely free from the flaws of attachment and aversion. Not being omniscient, it is not possible for their samyaktva to be blemishless. They are seekers. They have saraaga samyaktva (enlightened perception, which is not free from attachment). They seek spiritual perfection so that they may be freed from the tenuous bonds of attachment and aversion. Unblemished samyaktva can only be attained in the 12th gunsthaanaka.
But it is the seeker in the 4th gunsthaanaka who needs unblemished samyaktva. In the absence of unblemished samyaktva, how could the knowledge and conduct of the seeker be unblemished?
This is a conundrum that each seeker must confront. It is not possible to attain unblemished samyaktva in this day and age. In this situation, should the seeker persist with his efforts to attain liberation? Or should he give up thinking that without unblemished samyaktva nothing can be attained on the spiritual front?
As per Jain doctrine, it is not correct to think that only unblemished samyaktva can help the seeker attain his spiritual goals. It is not obligatory for the seeker to have unblemished samyaktva at the outset of his spiritual journey. But it is necessary for the seeker to correctly understand unblemished samyaktva and have deep and unshakeable faith in it. He must know the reasons and causes of false faith and delusion; and the reasons and causes of samyaktva. He remains away from the causes of false faith and he retains his samyaktva. Whether such a seeker is a householder or an ascetic and despite his samyaktva being blemished by attachment and aversion, he truly has samyaktva. This is because he can correctly discriminate between mithyaatva (false faith) and samyaktva and stays away from the causes of mithyaatva {false faith).
