Acharya Mahaprajna
2.171 jaṃ dukkhaṃ paveditaṃ iha māṇavāṇaṃ, tassa dukkhassa kusalā pariṇṇamudāharaṃti.
The adept monks explain the process of comprehending and getting rid of suffering, as experienced by the humans.
Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 171
People know what is suffering. They experience suffering. The expert seers explain the comprehension and abandonment of suffering.
Here the word 'adept' refers to the immediate disciples of the Lord. They were knowledgeable persons endowed with the supernormal power of delivering religious discourses. They practised what they preached. They had conquered sleep, the senses and the hardships. They had the knowledge of right action at right place and right time.
'Comprehension' means discrimination or the way that leads from suffering. It consists of four parts: there is bondage, there is cause of bondage, there is liberation and there is way of liberation.[1]
2.172 iti kamma pariṇṇaya sawaso.The monk should comprehend the nature of karma in all respects.
Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 172
Karma is the cause of suffering. Therefore, one should thoroughly comprehend karma and judge it thus: How is the karma bound, who binds it? when does it fructify and when it does not, what is their duration, which of them would continue for a long time and which for a short period? In this way by knowing everything about the karma in all respects, it is possible to abandon it.
2.173 je aṇaṇṇadaṃsī, se aṇaṇṇārāme, je aṇaṇṇārāme, se aṇaṇṇadaṃsī.
The monk who perceives the pure nature of soul practises the pure discipline. The monk who practises the pure discipline perceives the pure nature of soul.
Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 173
In the present Sūtra, the means to the comprehension of the karma is explained. The person who concentrates upon the self as free from passions and activities and does not divert his attention to anything else is a person of undistracted vision. One who concentrates on karma, that is, remains entangled in karma is bound by karma. One who perceives his pure self as essentially free from all dirt of karma is liberated from karma. The person who rivets his attention on pure consciousness does necessarily revel in it and not in anything else that causes karmic bondage, nor in sensual objects and passions. In this way, one who has undistracted vision enjoys undistracted bliss. Conversely it can be said that he alone who practises nothing but pure discipline perceives nothing other than his self.[2]
The meaning of the expression 'perceiver of the pure soul' is clarified by the expression 'perceiver of the soul freed from karma' in the following sūtras:
By cutting down attachment and aversion by means of self- restraint and penance, the monk perceives his pure self free of karma (3.35).
Extirpating all outward tendencies of the senses, experience your soul as freed from karma in this mortal world (4.50).
(a) Ācārāṅga Cūrṇi, p.95: pariṇṇā duvihā uvadisaṃti, taṃjahā baṃdho baṃdhahetu mukko mokkho mokkhahetuśca.
(b) In common language, the experience which one does not like is referred to as sufferings. In the language of religion, the cause of sufferings is also called suffering. The bondage of karmas is the cause of sufferings. Bhagavān Mahāvīra admonished the people thus -
There is bondage and there is cause of bondage.
There is liberation and there is cause of liberation.
(c) This is comparable to the four noble truths of the Buddhist Philosophy.
Cūrṇau Vṛttau ca etat sūtraṃ vyāvahārika-samyagdarśanadṛṣṭayā vyākhyātmasti:
(a) Ācārāṅga Cūrṇi, p.96: aṇṇa iti parivajjaṇe tiṇṇi tisaṭṭhā pāvātiyasayā aṇṇadiṭṭhī, aṇaṇṇadarisī vatāiṃ tattvabuddhīe pekkati, imaṃ ekkam jaiṇaṃ tattabuddhīe pāsati, jo aṇaṇṇaditṭṭi so niyama ' aṇaṇṇārāmo' ṇa aṇṇatthāramatīti aṇaṇṇārāmo, gatipaccāgatilakkhaṇeṇaṃ bhaṇṇati - je
'aṇaṇṇārāmo' se ṇiyamā aṇṇadiṭṭhī, jaṃ bhaṇitaṃ sammadiṭṭhī, ṇa ya aṇṇadiṭṭhīe ramati, tahā visayakasāyādilakk-haṇe acaritte atave ṇa ya ramati.
(b) Ācārāṅga Vṛtti, patra 131.
(c) The fundamental mainstay of Bhagavān Mahāvīra's asceticism is apramāda (i.e. complete lack of inertia, or constant vigilance). The first principle of this is close introspection.
The Bhagavān said, "perceive the Self through the Self." Not being an extroven implies being an introvert. Hence, the aphorism. Thus the processes of introspection and revelry in the Self continue to follow each other.
Passions (e.g. the id-impulses, indignation, conceit, deceit and avidity) are not the properties of the soul; and, therefore, a true introvert does not delight in them.
Knowing the Self is the right Knowledge.
Perceiving the Self is the Right Perception.
Revelling in the Self is the Right Conduct.
This alone is the path to salvation.
The second principle of apramāda is - to live in the present, i.e. to identify oneself with the current activity. One who is absorbed in the present activity does not pay heed to any other activities. One who remains lost in the reminiscences of the past and imaginations of the future cannot live in the present. A person who is engaged in one activity while his mind is occupied with another cannot remain alive to the exigencies of the present concentration.
