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SANNYA8A DHARMA
but still devoid of the reflective mind. We then have the five-sensed beings that are endowed with a mindthe horse, the dog, the monkey, and the like. But their intellectualism is of a poor quality, and they are debarr. ed from salvation. Even man has many difficulties to get over. He may be deficient in respect of mental and physical development; he may be short of one or more limbs or vital organs. These are disqualifications for final release. Then there is the female form, the weaker vessel, so full of modesties. There is nothing surpris. ing in the statement that it debars the soul from the practising of nir grantha (nude) asceticism without which nirvanā is out of the question. There still remain several other kinds of disqualifications, such as wrong faith, to be considered. These disincline the mind to accept the teaching of truth or to apply itself for the ascertainment thereof. Such are the difficulties to be faced in the vegetable, the animal, and the human kingdoms. In the heavens and hells the conditions of life are such as do not admit of asceticism on account of the extremely pleasurable conditions of the former and of acute distress in the latter, Thus only humanity is privileged to obtain salvation, and lucky, indeed, is the man who finds himself, even in the human form, properly qualified to practise asceticism and the karma-consuming form of dhyāna. It is for this reason that the advantages of a human birth are extolled in the Scripture. Because it is so difficult to obtain the human form with all those other qualifications necessary for the practising of tapas (austerities)
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