Soul Science Part 01

Author(s): Parsmal Agarwal
Publisher: Kundkund Gyanpith Indore

Page 75

Soul Science : Samayasāra by Jain Ācārya Kundakunda
37
Annotation
Stanza 28 and the first line of stanza 27 are in the direction of agreement with the questioner of the question raised in the previous stanza. The worship of the physical body of the Arahanta is not entirely meaningless. Many devotees can say the same on the basis of their own personal experience. When a devotee goes to a temple and sees the peaceful image of lord Arahanta in the meditative posture then he also experiences the peace. The image of the physical body of the Arahanta also inspires a devotee in various ways. The relative point of view (Vyavahāra Naya) recognizes all such effects and gives green signal to worshiping the physical body of the Arahanta.
Other lines of these stanzas convey the concept that one should, however, not be satisfied with only this kind of worship. It should be kept in mind that a real worship is the worship of the inner qualities of the Arahanta.
In technical words, from the relative point of view one may say that the physical body and the soul are not different, but from the real point of view the soul and the physical body are not the same.
The analogy given in stanza 30 illustrates this point very well. From the relative point of view, the description of the kingdom of a king can be considered as a description of the king. But from the real point of view, the description of the kingdom cannot be understood as a description of the king.
While explaining these stanzas, Ācārya Amộtacandra in his commentary Ātmakhyāti has emphasized the importance of understanding the doctrine of Naya (points of view). He explains that for a person knowing both Naya in the proper context, there would not be any confusion. (For more about Naya refer to Appendix-5).
After devoting five stanzas to the prayer of Arahanta, Ācārya Kundakunda now writes three stanzas to describe some inner
qualities of the spiritually advanced souls.