Acharanga Bhasyam: Sūtras 22-30 : Way Of Vigilance

5.22 esa magge āriehiṃ pavedite.

This path of vigilance is expounded by the Jinas^[1]

5.23 uṭṭhie ṇo pamāyae.

A person who is awake or disciplined should not fall back into non-vigilance.

Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 23

The person who is awake to the practice of vigilance should not submit to laxity. A person even though awake can fall back to the state of the unawakened in the absence of necessary enthusiasm and exertion. This instruction, therefore, is very useful. So long as there is the elimination-cum-suppression of the deluding karma, the state of vigilance cannot be steadfast. There is a constant chain of rising and vanishing of the state of vigilance. When a person diving under the surface of the river pushes aside the moss by his hands, he gets a glimpse of the sky, but when his hands rest, the moss gathers up and covers his glimpse of the sky. In this process at the state of vigilance, the elimination-cum-suppression of the deluding karma becomes fruitful, and one may get a glimpse of the self. At the state of non-vigilance the elimination-cum-suppression becomes fruitless, and the glimpse of the self becomes blurred.

There is concomitance between non-vigilance and fear. "There is fear for the non-vigilant from all quarters", said the Lord.^[2] Therefore one should not indulge in laxity. When there is non-vigilance of the nature of non-enthusiasm in the practice of the discipline, there is predominance of inauspicious activities and consequently there is premature realization and transference of karma. As a result, there is suppression of auspicious karma and transference of the auspicious into the inauspicious. Therefore it is a truism that wherever there is non-vigilance, there is fear. The reverse takes place in the state of vigilance. There is elimination of inauspicious karma due to premature realization of the auspicious, and also transference of the inauspicious into the auspicious.

5.24 jāṇittu dukkhaṃ patteyaṃ sāyaṃ.

One should not indulge in negligence, knowing pleasure and pain of the individual himself.

Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 24

Pleasure and pain are confined to the individual alone. None else can take upon himself the pleasure and pain of others. Knowing this, one should desist from non-vigilance.^[3]

5.25 puḍho chaṃdā iha māṇavā, puḍho dukkhaṃ paveditaṃ.

People have diverse motives, and sufferings are also said to be diverse.

Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 25

That the pleasure and pain are confined to each particular individual is due to the fact that the psychic mood which is the substantial cause of pleasure and pain belongs exclusively to the individual. This truth has been expounded here. The people in this world have different interests and multiple moods. This is the reason why pleasure and pain are differently wished for by different persons. Some people regard violent indulgence as pleasure and some regard it as pain. Similarly some people consider nonviolence as pain, while others regard it as pleasure. In this way, the thought about pleasure and pain is not absolute. Therefore the awakened person should lead a life of non-violence, knowing that pleasure and pain are confined to the individual himself.

5.26 se avihiṃsamāṇe aṇavayamāṇe, puṭho phase vippaṇollae.

The awakened person should not commit violence to anybody; he should not deny the existence of subtle living things. Whatever suffering he meets he should tolerate equanimously.

Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 26

A person engaged in injurious activities indulges in violence. But the person who has vowed to live non-violent life is an awakened individual who does not destroy living beings. There are two classes of living beings: subtle and gross. The avoidance of violence to gross beings is not that difficult as avoidance to subtle beings. The vow to lead a non-violent life is really very difficult, because sometimes doubt may arise about the existence of subtle animate things. The Sūtra, therefore, in order to meet such doubt says that the non-violent person should not deny the existence of subtle animate things In such situation one may confronted with many hardships while leading a non-violent life, which he should bear patiently, not being overpowered by them.

5.27 esa samiyā-pariyāe viyāhite.

Such person is designated as the practitioner of the right mode of life.

Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 27

Such non-violent and tolerant person has been designated as a person of right inclination, that is, a person practising equanimity par excellence.^[4]

5.28 je asattā pāvehiṃ kammehiṃ, udāhu te āyaṃkā phusaṃti. iti udāhu vīre "te phase puṭho hiyāsae ".

Even the ascetics, not addicted to sinful activities, are overtaken by fatal diseases. Such people are addressed by the Lord to endure those ailments with patience.

Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 28

Once Lord Mahāvīra was approached by some monks who asked him: 'O Lord! there are people who are attacked by ailments, even though they are detached, practise penance, self-restraint and are observer of celibacy'.

The Lord answered: 'O noble ones! you should know that the ailments and the self-restraint are governed by different causes'.

'We want to know about those causes, O Lord!'

The Lord said: 'the tranquilization of the conduct-deluding karma is the cause of self-restraint, whereas the rise of the sensation karma is the cause of ailments; the latter is possible for the omniscient too; one should therefore properly tolerate the sufferings caused by those ailments'.

5.29 se puvvaṃ peyaṃ pacchā peyaṃ bheura-dhammaṃ, viddhaṃsaṇa-dhammaṃ, adhuvaṃ, aṇitiyaṃ, asāsayaṃ, cayāvacaiyaṃ, vipariṇāma-dhammaṃ, pāsaha eyaṃ rūvaṃ.

Look! this body was in the past and will also be in the future remain fragile, subject to decay, unstable, transient, non-eternal, waxing and waning, changing in nature.

Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 29

This Sūtra gives the basic principle of tolerance. According to this principle, the pain caused by ailments is to be tolerated. Look at this material body.^[5] It was subject to decomposition in the past^[6] and will remain so in the future. The implication is that the decomposition takes place automatically. This body is perishable like a dilapilated cart. It is unstable, impermanent, non-eternal, subject to growth and decay, and subject to change. This body is nourished by rich diet and decays in the absense of such food. The body grows upto the fortieth year and starts decaying thereafter. This is the reason why it is described as subject to growth and decay. The body is subject to change because it passes through various transformation through the states of foetus, childhood, youth, etc.

5.30 saṃdhiṃ samuppehamāṇassa egāyataṇa-ray ass a iha vippamukkassa, ṇatthi magge virayassa tti bemi.

For the person who perceives the juncture, who is devoted to the path of detachment, is free from worldly possessiveness, desists from violence, there is no exclusive way to liberation - thus do I say.

Bhāṣyaṃ Sūtra 30

For an aspirant who, perceiving the juncture of the body, is devoted to a single way, that is, the super-corporeal consciousness and is devoid of the sense of 'mine'-ness with reference to the body, there is no need of any particular path.

The implication is that the aspirant who has experienced pure consciousness on account of the envision of the juncture and consequently whose renunciation has become natural, has no need of any kind of discipline or any path of meditation. What is the necessity of any path for a person who has reached the goal, as it has been said: the seer has no designation (2.73). The path of spiritual discipline is not only one, there being many ways of attaining freedom from attachment. All these ways are genuine paths.