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The answer is, that very few realise that the three jewels are present inside their own souls. Even amongst those very few, not many know how to awaken the three jewels lying in their own souls. Not knowing and not understanding the three jewels means that many seekers who wish to attain liberation are deprived of a chance to do so as they make wrong choices. Mistakenly, they choose the wrong path and consider it to be true. They consider false knowledge to be true knowledge leading to liberation. But that knowledge, devoid of samyaktva, is false knowledge. And it causes them to remain in transmigration.
Just as a seed requires appropriate soil, appropriate climate, appropriate sunlight, enough air, enough water and enough fertiliser to grow into a tree, the soul requires appropriate means and appropriate end in order to attain liberation. In the absence of the appropriate means and the appropriate end, the seed will remain barren. Similarly, in the absence of both, appropriate means and appropriate end, the seeker's soul shall never be able to attain liberation.
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For salvation, the soul itself is the appropriate soil. Dharma is the appropriate seed. The three jewels of enlightened perception, enlightened knowledge and enlightened conduct nourish the seed.
Dharma is the true nature of the soul. It is the effortless immaculate disposition of the soul. One may then say, "All the attributes of the soul are its dharma. And a soul has innumerable attributes. Thus, will the soul have innumerable dharmas?"
-Ratnakarandakashraavakaachaara, (Author: Aachaarya Samantabhadra Publisher: Muni Sangh Swaagat Samiti (Sagar), Madhya Pradesh, year 1986, 2nd edition)
The answer is, there is no problem in this statement. The soul has innumberable attributes from different perspectives. From a certain perspective, it has certain attributes. All the attributes may be clubbed together under the rubric 'three jewels'. The three jewels are innately capable of holding and producing innumerable attributes. Just as wealth enables a person to buy many things to decorate his home, the three jewels enable the soul to possess many attributes.
Dharma
From the nishchaya (transcendental/absolute} viewpoint, dharma cannot be confined to any one nation, community or sect. It is ignorance to confine dharma to any one substance or entity. Dharma is the true nature of the soul. It is the immaculate disposition of the soul. It exists in the soul. Dharma is not the name of any object. Dharma is the innate dispensation of the soul representing its emotional and conative aspects. This is why the three jewels embody the true dharma.
The three jewels exist in the soul. Liberation is also in the soul. There is nothing that has to be brought in from the outside. The soul requires nothing except to bring out dharma that is present inside, with the help of the three jewels.
