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10. JAINA DOGMATICS AND MORAL AND SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE
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is employed in prāṇāyāma, and the devotee has to master the control and regulation of each of the four kinds of vital air, believed to be located, each in its own centre, inside the nostrils. The topic is treated in detail in Jñānārnava 29. 15 ff,
Somadeva goes on to say that just as a person, holding a lamp in his hand, looks at something and then puts the lamp aside, similarly the devotee, after having seen the object of knowledge with the help of knowledge, should renounce knowledge (that is, mental action) altogether.1 Concentration in meditation takes place only when the inflow of all sinful karma ceases, and there can be no question of dhyana for those whose minds are corrupted by sin.' Milk turned into curds never becomes milk again: similarly, one whose soul has been purified by the knowledge of the truth is not contaminated by sins again.3
In conclusion, no real difference exists between the individual Self and the blissful higher Self: the former is so called when in bondage, and becomes the blissful higher Self again when it is released from bondage. There is, however, a great difference between the body and the Self, the former extremely impure and the latter extremely pure, and the Self should always be meditated upon after isolating it from the body.* Just as oil remains separate in water, similarly the Self remains apart within the body." Those who know the truth should by proper means isolate the Self from the body in spite of their long association, just as clarified butter is ingeniously separated from curds." The relation between the body and the Self, the one with form and the other without form, is like that of a flower and its fragrance, a tree and its shade, and a face and its reflection."
Somadeva's elaborate discourse on dhyana ends with a definition of asanas or Yogic postures viz. padmāsana, virāsana and sukhāsana, and a few hints on the method of acquiring concentration during meditation.
e) The next item of Samayika is the worship of Śrutadevata or the presiding goddess of the Jaina scriptures, also called Sarasvati, like her Brahmanical counterpart. Somadeva, following his usual method, gives a
1 दीपहस्तो यथा कश्चित् किंचिदालोक्य तं त्यजेत् । ज्ञानेन ज्ञेयमालोक्य पश्चात्तं ज्ञानमुत्सृजेत् ॥ P. 398,
2 सर्वपापास्त्र वे क्षीणे ध्याने भवति भावना । पापोपहतबुद्धीनां ध्यानवार्तापि दुर्लभा ॥
3 दधिभावगतं क्षीरं न पुनः क्षीरतां व्रजेत् । तत्त्वज्ञानविशुद्धात्मा पुनः पापैर्न लिप्यते ॥
4 जीवः शिवः शिवोर्जः किं भेदोऽस्त्यत्र कश्चन । पाशबद्धो भवेज्जीवः पाशमुक्तः शिवः पुनः ॥ अत्यन्त मलिनो देहः पुमानत्यन्त निर्मलः । देहादेनं पृथक्कृत्वा तस्मान्नित्यं विचिन्तयेत् ॥
5 तोयमध्ये यथा तैलं पृथग्भावेन तिष्ठति । तथा शरीर मध्येऽस्मिन् पुमानास्ते पृथक्तथा ॥
6 दक्षः सर्पिरिवात्मायमुपायेन शरीरतः । पृथक्कियेत तत्त्वज्ञैश्चिरं संसर्गवानपि ॥
7 पुष्पामोदौ तरुच्छाये यद्वत् सकलनिष्कले । तद्वत्तौ देहदेहस्थौ यद्वा लपनविम्वत् ॥ P. 399. 36
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