Shatkhandagama Pustak 06

Author(s): Pushpadant, Bhutbali, Hiralal Jain, Fulchandra Jain Shastri, Devkinandan, A N Upadhye
Publisher: Jain Sahityoddharak Fund Karyalay Amravati

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8 Samyaktvot patti Culika This Culika is so called because it describes how and by what steps Right Faith or the correct attitude of the mind is created. It is only when the burden of the Karmas is considerably lightened, firstly, by a gradual process of self-purification which may be almost unconscious, and lastly by a deliberate effort to improve the mind, that the whole layer of ignorance is transformed into three parts which may be called ignorance, semi-ignorance and enlightenment, and they are all laid at rest for a while and the true self reveals itself. When this happens for the first time, the purity is only temporary and the soul soon falls back into one of the three specifted states. When a similar course of purification is attempted for a second time, it may be accompanied by right conduct with which the soul climbs considerably higher on the ladder of spiritual progress. And if the soul makes this start not merely with a process of allaying the Karmas (aupaśamika samyktva ), but of destroying them (Ksāyika Samyaktva ) then there is no falling back at all, and one continues to advance in purity within this life and the life beyond, till perfection is reached and the shackles of worldly existence are cast aside once for all. These processes are described in the commentary with extraordinary details and mathematical precision.
9. Gati-agati Culika The ninth Cūlikā is called Gati-agati because it deals chiefly with the migratory processes of the soul. As these are affected to a large extent by the presence or absence of the right attitude of the mind (Samyaktva ), the work first deals with the sources through which right attitude is generated in the beings in hell or heaven, animal or men. These sources are four, namely, sight of the Jina image, listening to a righteous discourse, memory of the experiences of the past life and the present sufferings. l'hese become available differently under different conditions of existence.
The next topic that is treated in this Culika is with what spiritual grades one may enter any particular state of existence or exit out of it. The one noteworthy feature of this topic is that a being with the right attitude of the mind will never enter any hell, lower than the first one, nor become a lower animal. The last topic in this Cālikā is, being what one is in his present life, what virtues or status can he acquire in the next birth.
With this volume the first Khanda Jivatthāna (Soul-positions ) comes to an end. The next Volume will present to us the Second Khando called Khudda Bandha ( Bondage in brief).