Acharya Mahashraman
A beautiful word - egappamuhe- is found in the Jain agam. A spiritual practitioner should focus only on the self. The soul should be the nucleus. He should not do anything that pollutes the soul. He must be aware of his soul or consciousness. As long as the body accompanies the soul, the body should be utilized toward salvation of the soul. It is well versed in the Uttaradhyayan Sutra, a Jain agam:
Sarirmahu navatti, jivo vucchai navio samsaro annavo vutto,jam taranti mahesino.
The body is like a boat; the soul is a sailor and world is an ocean. People who seek for liberation can swim through it. But if the boat of the body gets a hole and water gets inside then the same boat can sink. Now the question may arise: how does boat of body get a hole? When a man commits a sin, indulges in violence and stealing; tells a lie or does anything unethical, then such acts cause holes in the boat of the body. The water entering through these holes is good enough to sink the soul alike the sailor. Therefore a spiritual practitioner should be conscious for his soul only. He should contemplate, "May my soul stay pure and unpolluted. May I realize the pure and sage soul through austerity?" Though material is required for survival, a spiritual practitioner should have pull towards his self. Many years ago, I heard a story highlighting this fact:
A king went on to a journey of a distant country. He had four queens, each of whom wrote a letter to him asking for a desired object. The first queen wrote to bring a beautiful saree (Indian woman's attire) for her while returning. The second queen asked to get a beautiful necklace for her. The third queen demanded for bangles. On the letter of fourth queen only digit '1' was written. The king could not understand its meaning. He discussed with his minister. The minister advised that the fourth queen demanded nothing but the king himself. She wanted king to come soon. The king bought everything as per the demands of the queens and after few days returned to his kingdom. The queens were eagerly waiting for their requested things. The king gave sarees to the first queen, necklace to the second one, and bangles to the third one. He offered rest of the objects to the fourth queen. All three queens complained about the partiality with them. They grumbled that he had offered just few things to them while all remaining things to the fourth queen. The king responded, 'I fulfilled your demands. The fourth queen demanded me only. Therefore, whatever is mine will be hers.' Similarly, the spiritual practitioner should not get infatuated by material objects. He should demand for soul only.
Jain philosophy determines the soul as intangible. It cannot be perceived through the eyes. It can only be experienced. The mundane soul is affected by sins. It has a strong shield of karma like an iron-shield. But the soul cannot be realized by penetrating this iron-shield. One has to go through the entire process to perceive the soul. Self-realization has its own process, just like the process of extracting butter from milk. Soul becomes free from karma through spiritual practice and then self-realization becomes easy.
Religious literatures mention time and again that human life is rare. One must make the best use of human life and gain the maximum spiritual progress. For, self-realization, experience of the self and attainment of emancipation are possible in human life only. Therefore, man should think, 'what kind of actions have I done?' How is my conduct? Man reaps fruit according to his deeds. Therefore he should not do such action which pollutes his soul by karma. When a person gets motivated by such thoughts, he protects the soul from sins and thus his soul stays pure and light. The soul of Bhagwan Mahaveer kept transmigrating in the lives till it was enwreathed by the karma. When it became free, he attained self-realization. To eradicate his karma he devoted himself to spiritual practices. He had incredible devotion for spirituality. How incredible sadhana for almost twelve and a half years he did! How much fasting he did! How much hardships he endured! While enduring these hardships he was eyeing his soul only. Therefore, he did not have the feeling of enmity even for the trouble-makers. The outcome of those fasting, practices and self-orientation was achievement of kevalgyan (omniscience). The achievement of kevalgyan is the great milestone in the field of spirituality or in other words everything is achieved. In this way not only Bhagwan Mahaveer but each bhavya soul can realize its self through practice if that person is always self-oriented.
