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In the Suutrakrita Suutra, is said that, “One who accepts and understands the concepts of loka - aloka {universe & non-universe), punya - paap (merit & demerit), jiiva - ajiiva {living being & non-living substance), dharma - adharma (medium of motion & medium of rest}, bandha - moksha {bondage and liberation as explained by the Jinaas is a samyak drishti {has true perception. One who does not, is a mithyaadrishti {has false perception).
The reason why mithyaatva is known as the greatest and most grave of all sins is that mithyaatva causes the living being to take birth in nigoda {most rudimentary form of vegetable life in which an infinite number of souls live together and die together sharing a submicroscopic common body). The lifespan of living beings living in nigoda is extremely short. Within the time it takes for a human to blink his eyes, a denizen of nigoda completes 17.5 lifetimes! Once a living being is reborn in nigoda, he lives infinite lifetimes there, constantly taking rebirth in nigoda for millions of years. Very rarely, through shedding of karmas without any intelligent effort (akaama nirjaraa), may a living being escape the unending cycle of rebirth in nigoda. It would be as rare for a living being to escape from nigoda, as it is for a pebble lying in the bottom of a river to be swept away from the river.
The conduct of a mithyaadrishti (one who has deluded and false perception • A mithyaadrishti person does not have faith in the true god, the true scripture, true preceptor
(guru) and true dharma. Instead, he has faith in false gods, false scriptures, false preceptors and
false dharma. • A mithyaadrishti person thinks that it is good to commit the 18 types of sins. • A mithyaadrishti person does not believe in karma, dharma, punya (virtue/merit), paap
{sin/demerit}, this world and the next world. • A mithyaadrishti person does not believe in the 9 tattvas (substances. • A mithyaadrishti person is crazy about the temporal world and the sensual pleasures it offers. • A mithyaadrishti person does not fear the wages of sin, nor does he fear rebirth in hell. • A mithyaadrishti person does not like to listen to religious discourses, nor does he have any faith
in them, nor does he consider putting religious teachings into practise. Just as a thirsty deer wandering in the forest is likely to believe in a mirage of water, a mithy aadrishti person is likely to consider the truth to be false and falsehood to be true. Because of this,
he keeps wandering in the vicissitudes of transmigration. • A mithyaadrishti person has fierce passions, to the extent that even infinite lifetimes cannot
extinguish the flame of his anger, arrogance, artifice and avarice (anantaanubandhii kashaaya). A mithyaadrishti person depends on external persons and objects for his happiness. For instance, he searches for happiness in wealth. And looks for happiness in family life. He does not realise
that true happiness lies in immersing oneself in the soul. • A mithyaadrishti person identifies with his body. He cannot distinguish between soul and body.
