Jainism
emphasizes great importance to the state of equanimity. In the state of
equanimity, free from Attachment and Aversion one eradicates high amount of
Karma particles bounded with the Soul. Usually one acts with attachment or
aversion when one becomes happy or unhappy. One becomes happy when things are
going according to his/her desire and one becomes unhappy when things are not
going according to his/her desire. Now why the things are not going according
to someone’s desire? To understand this we need to go through the Philosophy of
Karma.
Every
living being has a soul which has basic attributes like, Infinite Knowledge,
Infinite Perception, Infinite Bliss and Infinite Energy. There are two
different types of energy working in this Universe, Sentient and Non-sentient.
Non-sentient is that explained in Physics and very well explained by the famous
Einstein’s Equivalence Principle. It is connected with Matter. On the other
hand there exists another kind of energy which is Sentient Energy. Sentient
Energy is the basic attribute of a soul. The soul is independent substance in
the Cosmos which was never born and which will never vanish. There are infinite
souls in the Universe. The souls can be categorized into two types, Liberated
and Non-Liberated. The liberated souls are those who are free from the cycle of
birth and death. The Non-Liberated are in bondage of Karma and thus goes
through the cycle of birth, death and re-birth. However, from the Absolute
Point of View (Nishchaya Naya) there is no difference between the mundane and
liberated souls. They both possess the same qualities.
The mundane soul is clogged by the eight types
of Karma. The four are destructive and the rest are Non-destructive. The soul
itself is the doer of its own action (From the absolute point of view it’s pure
but it does action because of Miss-belief or Mithyatva). The action done
through Mind, Speech and Body causes the Karma particles to stick to the soul’s
space points and thus the soul wanders in the cycle of birth and death and
experiences suffering. There are two types of action, Inauspicious and
Auspicious. Inauspicious action causes to accumulate inauspicious Karma which
gives bitter fruits whenever they arise. Same way, auspicious action causes to
accumulate auspicious Karma which gives sweet fruits whenever they arise. The
cluster of karma particles is know as “Karma Vargana” in Jain terminology. Now,
if one is ignorant about this philosophy then he/she reacts with either attachment
or aversion at the time of the emergence of previously acquired Karma and thus
binds even more Karma. Thus the bondage extends and as a result the soul
suffers more in the never ending cycle of birth and rebirth.
The
Omniscient Lords have explained to react with equanimity at the time of
emergence of the previous Karma. The Lord has explained not to act with
attachment when good things are happening with us and aversion when bad things
are happening with us. In the state of perfect equanimity one blocks the influx
of fresh Karma and even eradicates previously acquired Karma. This process of
eradicating old Karma (in the state of equanimity) is so fast that one destroys
much strong Karma in a few seconds that the other (who is ignorant and does
austerities without practicing equanimity) can destroy in millions of years!
There is a
beautiful story in Jain history which can better help to understand this…
In the
time of the 22nd Tirthankar, Lord Neminath and Shri Krishna there
lived a great monk named Dhandhan Muni. He was actually the sun of Shri Krishna
but he left his kingdom after hearing Lord Neminath’s magnetic sermons. Since
the time of his renunciation he faced very difficult problem. Jain monks and
nuns do not cook their food; do not get it prepared for them. They go to
different householders and receive a little food from each house. For monk
Dhandhan Muni, it was the rise of Benefit Obstructing Karma (Laabhantraya
Karma). Such type of Karma obstructs benefit whatever he/she gains. For Dhandhan
Muni, this Karma obstructed the gaining of food. Wherever he go he would not
get food from the householders. The householders would close their door
whenever they see Dhandhan Muni approaching their door.
One day
one of his colleagues asked Lord Neminath, “Dear Lord, why such a great monk is
having problem for getting his food? Why he always returns without any food?
Why the householders of this great town of Dwarka are not offering food to this
monk who is the son of great King Vasudev (Lord Krishna)?”
The Omniscient
Lord replied, “Oh monk, this is the emergence of the Benefit Obstructing Karma that
blocks benefits of the food for Monk Dhandhan. Everything, either good or bad
happens because of our good or bad deeds. There is a reason, nothing happens
without any reason. In one of his previous births, the Monk Dhandhan was the
minister of a King. His name was Parashar and he was ordered to keep an eye on
farming. There were many farmers, bulls and cows working under him.
Once, at
the time of noon all the farmers took a break for their lunch. They all had
worked hard for farming and thus all were hungry. The farmers were taking their
meal and the bulls and cows were eating grass. At that time, Parashar stopped
them from eating and ordered them to plant seeds. The farmers were hungry so
they asked Parashar to let them take their lunch first, but Parashar didn’t
even listen to them and ordered them to work for more hours. He said, “First
you all plant more seeds in the farms, I will let you eat after the whole work is
done.”
All the
farmers, bulls and cows were hungry, they were not interested to pursue their
work at that time but they had to accept the order, there was no other way. So
they pursued their work without any interest. Thus by interrupting in their way
of taking meal, Parashar bounded Benefit Obstructing Karma and that karma has
come into action in the present birth. So he is not getting food from any
householders.”
By
listening to the Lord, Monk Dhandhan Muni realized the truth and vowed that he
will accept food only gained by his own effort. He will not accept food brought
by other monks. Thus, since that time he would daily go to at the doors of the
householders of the town of Dwarka and would return without any food. This
lasted for six months. Monk Dhandan Muni had been observing fasts since 6
months with ultimate equanimity. He had realized his mistake and he was not
showing any hatred toward the householders as he knew that he was responsible
for all this.
One day while
walking in the street he met his mundane father Shri Krishna. Krishna stepped
down the elephant and bowed before Dhandhan Muni and inquired about his life as
a monk. When Shri Krishna went back, the nearby householder called Dhandhan
Muni for alms. The householder put some laddus (Indian sweet) in the monk’s
bowl. Dhandhan Muni thought this must be end of his Benefit Obstructing karma. So
before eating and breaking his fast he went to Lord Neminath to confirm whether
his Benefit Obstructing Karma has ceased. The Lord said, Oh Dhandhan, your
karma has not ceased yet, you received the food is not because of your karma
but because of Shri Krishna’s karma. The householder thought that how great
that monk is, even the king like Shri Krishna bows before him! So he called you
and offered you this food.”
Upon
listening this fact from the Omiscient Lord, Dhandhan started to think, “how strong
karma I bound by obstructing other’s food in my previous lives!” Thus he
decided to forsake the alms (laddus). At the time of forsaking he performed strong
equanitmity. He didn’t show any hate to the householders but he found
responsible himself behind this. Soon, at the time of forsaking laddus he
entered Shukla Dhyana (Pure Meditation) and climbed the ladder of annihilation.
In the second step of this meditation (Ekatva Vitarka Savichara Shukla Dhyana)
he destroyed not only Benefit Obstructing Karma but also destroyed all the four
destructing Karma attached to his soul. As all four karma shed away he became
Omniscinet, the all knowing, all perceiving Arihanta.
This shows
how one can destroy karma by practicing strong equanimity and can attain
Liberation. If we accept the fact that we are the responsible behind our
happiness and sorrow then we can attain the state of equanimy and ultimately
the state of ultimte bliss.
