Soul Science Part 01

Author(s): Parasmal Agrawal
Publisher: Kundakunda Gyanpith

Page 13

XII
The spiritual science narrated by Jain Tirthamkara reveals that Kārmika laws are always followed. There is no lawlessness. Ācārya Amặtacandra writes:
Sarvam sadaiva Niyatam Bhavati svakīya,
Karmodayanmaraṇajīvitadukhasaukhyam. (Samayasāra Kalasa 168)
According to this stanza, always, each and every event - birth, death, pleasure, or pain - happens in accordance with our own Karma and as per definite Kārmika laws.
(Taken from Appendix-6)
Question: People are suffering from poverty, health crisis, lack of love and respect, war, drought, and sufferings of 8.4 million Yonis (various kinds of past lives as insects, animals, hellish beings, etc.). Would it not be more appropriate for us to read that treatise which addresses these issues? Why to devote our precious time to learning about soul?
Answer: These issues were certainly in the mind of Acārya Kundakunda. We know this on the basis of his other writings in which he covered such aspects. But in this treatise Samayasāra, his description is not focused on going from one problem to another problem. Therefore, he first put all these problems of worldly beings in one bag with a tag, "Narrations of Sensual Enjoyment, Pleasure, and Bonding" (verse 4), or, “Movies of Temporary Associations” (verse 3). He wants us to know that the poverty is a baggage of bonding, the sickness is a baggage of bonding, and sufferings of 8.4 million Yonis are also movies of temporary associations. In short, all our worldly issues can be placed in one bag. The Acārya wants us to realize that we are separate and different from this baggage. Without this understanding, we would hate one bag and would crave for another bag. He wants us to experience the beauty of the indivisible, sovereign, and eternal soul. He wants to provide a Master-Key to open all kinds of locks to deal with all kinds of worldly sufferings. He knows that such realization would be very much powerful in reducing our worldly sufferings.
(Taken from annotations related with Stanza 5)