Muni Kishan Lal
Acharya Tulsi and Acharya Mahapragya would daily read from the Acaranga sutra. When this was on, an idea struck me...why do I not use this medium to search for my answers? Gurudev instructed me and I began practice. Though I did not know enough of the procedure I was determined to learn the various processes and procedures.
The first one was to practice Kayotsarg, is the first and last step of the Jain tradition of meditation; the foremost principle of meditation. In my opinion, understanding the difference between the body and the soul is fundamental to meditation. This brings samyak darshan or the right perspective into the mind. In practice when you recite, Arahanto mahadevo javajjivam susahunno, guruno, jinnapannatam, tattam, iyaas sammatam maye gahiyam (Arihant, my Lord, My teacher. I have embraced the teachings of the Tirthankaras). Such an acceptance gives the right perspective. It is difficult to gain the right perspective without understanding the difference between the body and the soul. I started experiencing Kayotsarg in great intensity. I experienced very clearly that I was not just my body. Even today I am acutely aware of the difference between the body and the soul. It is clear that the body is but a tool. The elements of consciousness makes it experience its karmas. In the Acaranga sutra Arya Sudharma, once, asked his disciple Jambu, "I have heard that man never realises where he came from. Was it north or south, east or west? From the above or below or from any other direction?" Thus most people do not know whether he will be reborn or not, who he was in the previous birth or where will he go after death?
Thus a person gets to know about his or her previous birth, from the direction through the soul has taken this new birth. As mentioned earlier, this knowledge comes through the following three routes:
1. Introspection
2. As told by an insightful person
3. Hearing about it from a realized soul.
