Acharya Mahashraman
The simple but meaningful question 'Who am I', is one that has perplexed the human mind. Man is curious to know the reasons for his existence. Did he exist in past? If yes, then in what form? What will be his future? What will be his form of existence in future? Will he even exist at all? The myriad number questions are ever-present in his mind. The soul-perceivers answered these questions and provided a beautiful process of realizing the self.
With intense enthusiasm for realizing the self, one disciple went to his guru. With folded hands and in polite and moderate words he requested, "My Lord! I want to realize my 'self. Kindly guide me."
Guru replied, 'My son! The inspiration for self-realization is admirable. But It is very difficult.'
Disciple answered, 'My Lord! If your blessings are with me then there will be no challenge. With the grace of guru the complicated tasks become easy'
Realizing the intense thirst of the disciple, guru said, "My son! If you are eager to achieve this aspiration, listen to me.' To realize the self you will have to fight with not only one or two enemies, but ten. Without conquering them you cannot move in the direction of self-realization. Do you have the courage, valour and patience to overcome these difficult challenges?'
For an instant, the disciple became nervous upon hearing about the enemies. Almost in an instant, he collected his courage, awakened his self-confidence and requested, 'My lord! With your blessings I will certainly defeat those foes. Introduce me quickly to those enemies. The delay of even split of second is unbearable for me.'
The restlessness of disciple made the guru smiling. He recited a verse narrated by Indrabhuti Gautam in Ardhamaghadi (prakrit) language.
Ege jiye jiya punch, panch jiye jiya das dasaha hu jinittanam, savvasattu jinamaham
The disciple responded, 'My Lord! I am dull-minded. I could not understand this verse you recited. What do these numbers one, five and ten indicate? Exploring the meaning of the hymn guru said- the one stands for conquering the mind. From one perspective the mind is the biggest enemy of man. The paradox is in spite of keeping the mind under control, man accepts its control over him. Consequently, the mind - like a puppet master makes the man act in certain ways even when he feels that he doesn't want to physically follow through with the action ordered by mind. This is the effect of enslavement by the mind. A number of times you also feel the surprising forms of how the mind overrides your best intentions. You want to do spiritual studies but your mind instructs you to have rest and you go into sluggishness. Sometimes you like to undertake fasting but your mind craves to mindlessly eat varieties of food.
You become busy in satisfying the desires of the mind. You want to defeat the hardships but your mind runs towards a comfort zone. Consequently you become a comfort-seeker. You want to meditate and to keep your mind focused on one spot, but the mind, like a monkey, keeps jumping around. At that point, you give up the meditation and start entertaining your mind. The mind is like an unrestrained horse and untamed elephant. The moves of the mind are a zigzag. The great sages and ascetic also surrender before the capriciousness of the mind. Victory over the mind is the great achievement in the field of sadhana (spiritual practice).
Disciple accepted the words of his guru politely and asked another question- "My lord! What is the significance of five in the verse voiced by you?"
Guru responded- "Like the mind, four Kashayas (passions) -anger, ego, deceit and greed are invincible enemies. It's not so simple to conquer them. Kashay hides the true nature of the soul. In their presence the consciousness cannot manifest its knowledge and intuition entirely.
Let's understand it with an illustration. If we use the simile of a pond for the soul then we can say that the pond is filled with the "pure water" of knowledge and intuition. It is entirely covered with the "moss" of kashay in its mundane form. Man with his endeavour or in Jain terminology through his kshayopashambhava (destruction of some karma, and some karma are dormant) tries to remove it (moss of kashay). The rising state of karma keeps overriding the soul time and again. Consequently the moss of kashay becomes dense.
"Dear son! Surely, it's difficult to combat these four passions, but if you defeat the frailties of the mind, then overcoming the kashay will not be arduous. In this way, by conquering one mind and four passions you will become the victor over five enemies."
The disciple was drinking the nectar of discourse from his guru like a skylark (chatak). He asked one more question -"Gurudev! You have explained me about five enemies. Who are remaining five enemies? Please do explain them to me."
Guiding the disciple guru responded. "Those five great enemies are the five senses. Senses are the destroyer of the attributes of the soul. Self-realization demands the conquering of these five senses.
"Gurudev!" the disciple continued, "What do you mean by conquering them? Should I pour lead in the pore of my ear to avoid the hearing of ill words? This will surely cause the loss of my hearing ability and I would never again hear evil words. Eyes should not see evil and should be attracted towards the beauty, for this reason should I destroy my eyes so that I would not see anything that is evil? Similarly, should I abolish the power of other senses -nose, tongue and touch so that the sensation of smell, taste and touch come to an end?"
Guru smiled at the naivety of his disciple and answered with an earnest and profound voice - "Dear son! Conquering the senses does not mean to make them inactive and destroy their functional capabilities. Senses are the outcome of the kashyopasham state of karma. They help in our abilities to acquire knowledge. Here the goal is to discipline the senses and let them not be unrestrained. Disciplined senses will not move without guided direction; instead they will be on the right track.
Senses are simultaneously instrumental and obstacles for us. Restrained senses are instrumental whereas unrestrained are obstacles.
The curious mind of disciple persisted with his questions, "Gurudev! What can be the device to restrain the senses? Please expound upon it."
Continuing the conversation, guru replied, "To discipline the senses you are supposed to defeat attachment and aversion. The consciousness, driven by attachment and aversion, invariably lead the senses towards a destructive course. Until the burden of attachment and aversion are expunged from the mind, unrestrained senses cannot be overpowered. To clarify my thoughts here goes one illustration.
A well was dug in a village. After completion of the work, people were discussing its inauguration and how it would be done. Some suggested that the inauguration should be done by any distinguished guest. Who can be the distinguished guest? In this context many suggestions were presented. One man proposed a political leader while another person proposed any social reformer. Someone spoke up for the richest man of the village. Meanwhile, an experienced person came forward with his new proposal and said - The inauguration should be done by any ascetic or restrained soul instead of political leader, social reformer or affluent person. The proposal was appreciated. Now the search began for such an individual. They found an ascetic meditating under a tree. They gave him hearty invitation. Ascetic accepted the group invitation. He arrived at the well at the scheduled time. People of the village were already present there. But suddenly what happened? An unbearable stench was coming out of the well. The organizers ignited the incense-sticks. They used thurible. They sprinkled the perfumed liquid. Yet the stench did not cease. The ascetic peeped inside the well and he found dead bodies of two dogs. Perhaps while fighting both fell down in the well. He instructed people to take them out. As soon as the dogs were taken out, the stench was gone.
"Dear son! If you want to realize the self then first of all take the two dogs of attachment and aversion out with the help of the rope of dispassion. After only taking those out you can conquer your five senses."
In this way I have discussed the ten enemies before you.
These ten giant enemies are mentioned by Gandhar Gautam. Conquering these will lead towards the path of self-realization.
Every pore of the disdple was filled with the feeling of gratitude for guru. He bowed down in the feet of his guru and determined himself to move forward in the direction of self-realization.
