Book Title: Tattvartha Sutra
Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp Printers

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Page 389
________________ अध्याय-९ several roles. To be brief, sometimes one becomes one's own son, There is no end to the transformations undergone by the self owing to the influence of karmas. To reflect on the nature of mundane existence is contemplation on the worldly existence - samsārānuprekşā. He who contemplates thus is alarmed at the miseries of transmigration, becomes disgusted with worldly existence, and endeavours to free himself from it. 'I am alone in suffering severe pain in successive recurrence of birth, old-age and death. There is none who is my friend or foe. I am born alone; I die alone. No one, relation or other, takes away my manifold sufferings in form of disease, old-age and death. Relations and friends do not accompany me beyond the cemetery. Virtue (dharma) alone is my never-failing companion.' This is the contemplation of solitariness - ekatvānupreksā. He who contemplates thus is free from attachment towards his relations and aversion towards others; he cultivates detachment and endeavours to attain emancipation. To reflect that the soul is utterly distinct from the body is the contemplation of distinctness - anyatvānuprekşā. “Though my soul is one with the body from the point of view of bondage yet it is different from the body as the two possess different characteristics. The body has sense-organs but my soul is beyond the senses. The body is devoid of knowledge but my soul is knowledge. The body is perishable but my soul is imperishable. My body has a beginning and an end, but my soul has neither beginning nor end. In the course of my mundane existence, my hundreds of thousands of bodies have perished. My soul is different from all these bodies. When even the body is utterly different from my soul, then, O dear, there is no surprise that my soul is different from all other external objects.' He who contemplates thus is free from attachment towards his body and other things. This true knowledge leads to supreme detachment which helps the soul attain emancipation The body is the receptacle of utter impurities. It is developed from impurities such as semen and blood in the womb. As the lavatory, it is the seat of unclean things. The skin-covering is full of tiny pores 357

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