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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
676
Atman and Moksa
of gold ? Why should he apply the black soot (Kājal) to his face by rubbing out the appliance of kumkum ? Why should he wear a torn and rough garment prepared from different pieces of cloth (gūdad) by giving up a beautiful and fine garment ? Why should he bathe with pond-water by giving up ocean-waves ? Why should he go and sing at others' door by leaving his own Lord ?' Thus, Sūradāsa seeks to achieve permanent deliverance from his worldly miserable life and his shortcomings by offering himself completely to God. The way to attain liberation, according to Suradāsa is, loving-devotion (bhakti). He adopts the loving-devotion (premabhakti) as the only means of achieving deliverance. He says that the devotion of the Lord is his very life-breath (prāņa).? Therefore, he takes his shelter in the Lord by abandoning all else; he offers himself entirely (s'araṇāgata) at the feet of the Lord and requests Him to accept him as His own, whether he is good or bad, and requests Him to release him by His grace.3 He describes God as the most beautiful one, possessing a divine and precious body (divyadeha), and assuming infinite love and compassion in His eyes He stands to protect all His devotees. By giving up other means of knowledge like inference (anumāna) and the study of the scriptures and the Yogic practices he seeks deliverance through God only on the
1 Sūradāsa : Sūrasāgara, Vol. I (Hindi), Skandha I, Verse 166, p. 54-55.
2 Ibid. Verse 169, p. 55. 3 Ibid. Verse 170, p. 55.
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