VISIONS

People tend to get visions through dreaming, during meditations or even through waking hour. These are not hallucinations as many skeptics think otherwise. When an individual becomes aware, recognizes its soul and its journey, it starts getting visions, which acts like a guidance to help the journey through the oceans of samsaras.

One of my first vision was when I went total blank and experienced immense bliss just for a moment or samay, during my college lecture. Later, I used to see a lot of things during meditations and even while dreaming. However, one fine day, while going through a magazine I saw a picture of an ancient temple and instantly the world around me stopped for a while and I was like transported to that very place where I had seen the temple. It was like being there on the spot and saw things happening as if I was invisible in that place, where I could see but no one else could. After searching a lot on the web, I came to the conclusion that the temple was situated at Hale bid. Not long after that I underwent my first professional past life regression. An experience that not only gave me the answer to the vision but also opened up the doors between the consciousness and unconsciousness of my mind and soul.

After which like the floodgate that opened up, I would frequently see things during my meditations. However, after my soul mate expired just two months ago, my grief suddenly made me see things that I never seen before. During one early morning during waking hours, I saw a tunnel opening up and a bright light flooding through. The lights were soothing and beckoning to me. But it started to shut off and I was like pleading, no no, don’t shut off.

This morning, about several days from the last episode. Again in the morning hours, just before the sunrise, while standing at the window, thinking and grieving for my lost love, I saw the sun rays streaking across the landscape right in front of my eyes. The golden bright rays were not falling over the city, but a landscape I had never seen before. I was standing on a higher level at a vantage point and I saw the golden sun rays falling over a different city, surrounded by lakes and rivers and mountains in the distance. The city was in a circular fashion and nothing remotely representing anything on Earth. I had a 270 degree view of the city and it was out of this world. I felt at ease and was awed with the scene I had just seen. The entire vision lasted momentarily, but it was enough for me to recognize that it could have been the famed citadel mentioned in the ancient Jain books as Mahavideha Kshetra. I had a fleeting glimpse of the city, but it was enough for me to brood over it the entire day. It seemed this city is just around the corner on another dimension. Physically, it may not be possible for a body to cross over, but the soul can.

Whenever, the body dies off, the soul crosses over to another dimension and because it has shed the clothing, it can remember everything. Likewise, when the same soul re-enters back to the physical world in another body, it takes on extra clothing that hides the memory of the other side. Hence, a normal soul is incapable of remembering its own past lives or what happens thereafter. There are exceptions in terms of those who have come back on Earth plane with lesser clothing or is able to shed the extra burden on Earth itself, they start remembering things, if not completely at the initial stages. Visions are part of this very make-up that allows a soul not only to see the universe in its entirety but understand it as well, bit by bit.

Science has not even gone beyond seeing the limited light refraction and hence the rest remains in the dark. But what’s not visible does not mean it does not exist. It is like burning a match stick in the dark huge cave, wherein only a tiny part of the cave is visible where the light shines. I had once seen the entire universe, during my meditation, with daylight in the background and not as dark as we see each night on Earth. None of my visions are hallucinations. They are what Earthly science cannot explains because it is still in the infancy stage. They are trailers of the real thing. Visions that bring peace to you is different from nightmares. 

We can actually access the dimensions if we want to. All it takes is a key to unlock its method. The key here is actually a thought process that unlocks the portal, but once open, they more or less remain open. Souls residing on higher dimensions can travel anywhere, anytime. It is the Earthly beings who are restricted due to the presence of the body that acts like a prison cell, wherein our rib cage acts as the bars of the prison. As human our aim is not the body or its survival. It is to be set free from the body, maybe after completing our task. Our Earthly time is actually our punishment of sort and our true home lies elsewhere. All souls are bound by desires and they exist everywhere, even on higher dimensions. The only difference is that the levels and purpose of desires changes. The only place the soul is truly free from everything is the final resting abode of ‘Siddha Sila’.

If you as a reader could even see small bit of the beautiful visions, like the way I did, you too will want to be set free. By remaining on Earth due to ignorance, we are actually binding more karmic dirt than discarding them. Thereby increasing our bondage. As soon as we feel our purpose is over, or our jail time is over, we should make a move to cross over the main gates to be free at last and not linger back due to worldly pressures.

Article by: Dhara Kothari, Mumbai - INDIA

Ahimsa (Non-Violence)

Ahimsa is the most important tenet of Indian Philosophy. Ahimsa is practiced more deeply in Jainism. The Jains usually avoid harming the smallest insects in their daily routine. What one understands about Ahimsa is simply not to kill, harm, or abuse any living creature including plants. But that does not make the true meaning of Ahimsa. The principle of Ahimsa explained by Lord Mahavir and the previous Tirthankars is deeper and has been forgotten by most of the Jains in recent times. 

Lord Mahavir has said, “Ahimsa Paramo Dharma”. That means Non-Violence is the Supreme Religion. One would think that why Lord Mahavir has given such importance to Ahimsa? Does that mean to prevent all living beings from killing is the supreme religion? If yes, then what about self realization and liberation? It is clear that just by preventing killing and hurting other living beings we cannot attain liberation. Liberation can be attained by knowing the true self, being engrossed in the true self. It is important to note that Jainism is relative philosophy. Every principle should be known from all aspects. In Jainism every principle are explained in various aspects. What looks to be true from one viewpoint may not be true from another viewpoint. Religion or Dharma in Jainism has multiple meanings from different viewpoints. But from the Absolute Viewpoint religion has only one meaning and that is Basic Attribute of a substance or Gunadharma. There are Five Great Vows to be practiced for those who want to attain salvation. These are Non- violence, Non-Possession, Truthfulness, Non-stealing and Celibacy. These wows seem to be different from each other. But all has only one meaning when we look from the Absolute Standpoint and that is self realization. The main goal of a human birth is to destroy the old karma and prevent our soul from binding fresh karma. The person who is engrossed in the self-soul is practicing all the five vows in a same time. 

Dharma means the basic attribute of a substance. So, practicing Ahimsa means to stay tuned with our own real attribute. That means to act against our own nature (soul) becomes himsa or violence. To think the body as our self is violence. To take any other soul as our relative is violence. In short, every physical, mental or verbal action whether good or bad is violence. This will create a paradox because the people think that saving a living being is ahimsa. That is not true because in saving a living being from dying we bind virtuous karma and that is also violence. Ahimsa means to meditate on the true nature of the soul by which we prevent entering any new karma. 

To see our body as our self is violence, to see our mother as our mother is violence, to see our father as our father is violence. To move any object from its place is violence. To act opposite to our own nature is violence; to act according to our own nature is Non-Violence. Thinking this way deeply we realize the true meaning of ahimsa. Any action that is responsible for karma bondage is violence. From absolute perspective we can say that from any action of mind, body and speech we cause karma bondage and that is violence to our self. It has been said that the bondage of both virtuous and non-virtuous karma is violence to our soul and that’s true. Anybody will see the non-virtuous karma as sin but only rare people who have right knowledge will see the virtuous karma also as sin. That’s why Lord Mahavir once said that, “"If you kill someone, it is yourself you kill. If you overpower someone, it is yourself you overpower. If you torment someone, it is yourself you torment. If you harm someone, it is yourself you harm." 

Knowing this fact we can now realize why Lord Mahavir has given utmost importance to Ahimsa. All the Jain Tirthankars were the torch bearers of ahimsa. Without practicing ahimsa no one can attain liberation. The supreme ahimsa can be practiced in the higher stages of Gunasthanas (spiritual purity) where there is no affection towards the external objects. When the feeling like, “I am the doer of other things” has ceased completely then one has achieved the highest stage of ahimsa where there is nothing but only the experience of the pure soul. 

-Rahul Zota

Bhuj, India

JAIN MEDITATION

The practice of meditation has been the core of every religious tradition. In Jainism meditation has been the central practice since a long stretch of time. Meditation or Dhyana is regarded as the supreme penance out of the 12 types of penances. It requires higher purity and detachment from the external things to reach the highest form of meditation called Shukla Dhyana or Perfect Meditation. In the end of Shukla Dhyana the practitioner attains Absolute Knowledge, Absolute Perception, and experiences Absolute Bliss. In Jainism, such state of a soul is called Kevala Gyana and Kevala Darshana. But in order to achieve this state of perfect purity the seeker has to go through the 14 Stages of Spiritual Development.  In the entire practice, the practitioner strives to be just a Knower & Seer.

RIGHT KNOWLEDGE

Before the seeker begins his practice he should have the Right Knowledge of reality. In other words, he should be familiar and should have faith on the principles like Anekantvada, Soul and Matter, Substance and its modes. Thus the seeker realizes his goal and the way to achieve it. 

Meditation begins with Right Knowledge, the knowledge of Soul, Matter (Atoms), and other four substances like Medium of Motion, Medium of Rest, Space and Time. All the six substances should be understood with their Permanence, Emergence and Cessation attributes.  After knowing this and having faith in these core principles of Jainism the seeker realizes his/her real self and distinguishes his /her real self from the non-self substances. The truth is, one’s own soul is completely independent from all other souls as well as from other substances like Matter, Motion, Rest, Space and Time. Every soul is independent and every atom is independent. All the six substances are independent from each other. The truth is multi-dimensional. It is impossible to express the truth in one view point.  

COGNITIVE FUNCTION

The basic attribute of a soul is Cognitive Function. Every substance has its own attributes and they have intrinsic relation. For example, the attributes of matter are Color, Sound, Touch, Form, Taste, Smell and Material Energy. The attributes of a soul are Knowledge, Perception, Bliss and Spiritual Energy. The soul is fully conscious, formless, all knowing and all perceiving substance. There are infinite souls in the cosmos and all are independent from each other. 

Together, the knowing and perceiving capability of each soul is called Cognitive Function or Upayoga. Knowing both the Special and General attributes of a substance is called the Cognitive Function of a soul. The Cognitive Function can also be termed as attention or Psyche. It is the basic attribute of a soul and the self realization can be gained by being in tune with it. 

CONSTANT VIGILANCE 

In Jainism, constant vigilance means meditation. The seeker or the true sage strives to keep his/her cognition (Upayoga) on the true nature of the soul. In every moment the seeker tries not to give up the contemplation of, “I am an independent soul, I was never born and am never going to cease, I am formless, eternal, possessing the qualities of Infinite Knowledge and Perception. I am free from this body; I have no smell nor color, no weight nor form.” 

There is mention of three types of regulations in Jainism. The three regulations are also known as Three Guptis. These are, Regulation of Mind, Regulation of Speech, and Regulation of Bodily activity. The practice of three regulations is the first step for the seeker. To reach the higher stages of meditation the seeker must master the three regulations. The three regulations cannot be practiced fully without taking the Five Great Vows. Thus the monk who has taken five vows becomes potentially viable for righteous meditation. The mundane being who hasn’t taken the five vows can still practice Samayika. Samayika is a term used for a short period meditation. In Samayika one stops his/her daily activities for 48 minutes, sits motionless and concentrates upon the pure nature of a soul. 

To remain vigil, it is important to reduce the bodily activities as well as the activities of mind and speech. At this point when all these three kind of activities ceases the seeker can feel the consciousness (chetana). In the higher stages of meditation such feeling and bliss can be felt even while walking, taking meal, or doing some bodily activity. It is written in the scriptures that Lord Mahavir, the 24th Jain Tirthankara was always vigil even while walking or having meal. He was ceaselessly conscious at every moment of the day and night, total vigilance in the sixth step, and Samadhi, the seventh step of the meditative path. 

Changing the lifestyle is very important in order to reach the higher stages of meditation. Taking up the five vows helps in changing lifestyle. The monk who has taken the great five vows easily gets rid of the activity of mind, speech and body, but only when if he/she has the true knowledge and faith and has only goal of attaining liberation. On the other hand the one who lives mundane life and has all sensual pleasures finds difficult to practice meditation for a longer duration because the mundane thoughts keeps coming in the mind and the concentration on the soul becomes difficult. So, changing the lifestyle, with true knowledge, under the guidance of a true spiritual guru, plays an important role in spiritual progress. Though there are 12 types of minor vows for the mundane beings. Practicing these vows the mundane soul can progress towards purity and in the end becomes able to take up five great vows.

a picture depicts a Jain Layman practicing Samayik

DHARMA DHYANA AND SHUKLA DHYANA

According to Jainism, we all are always in meditation wherever our cognition is focused, whether it is virtuous or non-virtuous. To pay attention or to focus the cognition to particular object, or thoughts is meditation. There are four types of meditation, Wrathful, Sorrowful, Righteous and Spiritual Meditation. The first two are non-virtuous meditations because they cause karma bondage; the latter two are virtuous meditations as they prevent the influx of karma particles as well as destroy all karma. 

Dharma Dhyana or Virtuous Meditation is the root of Spiritual Meditation (Shukla Dhyana) and Omniscience. In Virtuous Meditation one strives to keep his/her cognition fixed on the pure form of the soul and also tries to minimize mental choices and volitions. When choices and volitions arise then the meditation shifts to Sorrowful or Wrathful, thus binds karma. To think about mundane world, bodily pleasure or hurting someone is Sorrowful and Wrathful meditation. 

Shukla Dhyana or Spiritual Meditation is the result of Dharma Dhyana. The aspirant starts practicing Dharma Dhyana when he/she renounces the world. The aim of Dharma Dhyana is to achieve the stage of Shukla Dhyana. Shukla Dhyana occurs in the end of the 12th stage when the soul destroys the Conduct Deluding Karma (Charitra Mohaniya Karma) and gains unprecedented stability and bliss. Now this stability of spiritual meditation never ceases and takes the soul to the second stage of Shukla Dhyana and here the soul destroys the remaining three karma namely Knowledge Obscuring, Perception Obscuring and Destructing Karma and enters the state of Kevala or Omniscience. Omniscience or Kevala, in other words can be defined as constant spiritual awareness. Shukla Dhyana, after it starts helps the practitioner destroy all the four destructive karma within 48 minutes. 

In Dharma Dhyana the aspirant strived to be constant aware about his/her true self. The aspirant was constant vigil and very careful on his activities of mind, speech and body. The more vigil he remained the more purity he gained and the karma became weak. As a result permanence awareness and bliss manifested within that is called Shukla Dhyana. In Dharma Dhyana the monk feels the soul and its pure bliss in broken parts but in Shukla Dhyana, the bliss, experience becomes intact, unbroken and whole and keeps feeling the infinite bliss, infinite knowledge and infinite perception forever.  

KAYOTSARG AND DHYANA

A Jain Tirthankara in Kayotsarga posture

Kayotsarga and Dhyana (Meditation) are the most important austerities. Kayotsarga means steadiness of the mind, speech and body. Once the activities of mind, body and speech ceases the soul can be experienced. Kayotsarga is the first step of meditation. It is important to have these three types of bodily activities to be ceased before the pure consciousness can be felt. Kayotsarga is very important for the beginners. Kayotsarga is related with body while meditation is related with soul. Kayotsarga is one kind of yogic posture and can be practiced in sitting, laying or standing posture. After practicing kayotsarga and stopping all kind of physical activities, meditation becomes easy to practice and there comes moments in which the true soul and pure bliss can be felt. 

FOURTEEN STAGES OF SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT

Jainism acknowledges that the soul advances to its liberated stage in various steps, called Gunasthan or “The Stages of Spiritual Development”. Through these fourteen stages of development, the soul gradually frees itself, firstly from the worst, then from the less bad and finally from all kinds of karma, and manifests the innate qualities of knowledge, belief and conduct in a more and more perfect form.  Here we will take a glance at each stage of spiritual development. Dharma Dhyana or Righteous Meditation plays an important role in climbing each stage and the external austerities like fasting, giving up tasty food etc helps in supporting meditation. The goal is to reach the highest type of meditation (Shukla Dhyana) and liberation. 

1. The stage of wrong believer: the lowest stage with ignorance, delusion, and with intense attachments and aversions. This is the normal condition of all souls involved in the mundane world and is the starting point of spiritual evolution.

2. The stage of one who has a slight taste of right belief: Indifference to reality with occasional vague memory of spiritual insight.

3. The stage of mixed belief: Fleeting moments of curiosity towards understanding reality.

4. The stage of one who has true belief but has not yet self-discipline: Awareness of reality with trust developed in the right view, combined with willingness to practice self-discipline. The soul may be able to subdue the four passions namely anger, pride, deceit and greed.

5. The stage of partial self-control: At this stage the right view and discipline starts to develop. The soul now begins to observe some of the rules of right conduct with a view to perfect itself. With the discipline of introductory or minor vows, the soul starts on the process of climbing spiritual ladder.

6. The stage of complete self-discipline, although sometimes brought into wavering through negligence: Major vows taken up with firm resolve to control passions. There may be failures due to lack of full control over passions and carelessness.

7. The stage of self-control without negligence: At this stage the self discipline and knowledge develops more. Intense practice of vows assisted in better self-control and virtually replaced carelessness with spiritual vigilance and vigor.

8. The stage of one in whom the passions are still occurring in a gross form: The stage of one in whom the passions are still occurring in a gross form. Closer to perfect self-control over actions, higher control over mind, thought and passions with the soul ready for reduction of the effects of conduct-deluding karma.

9. The stage of higher control over removal of passions and elimination of conduct-deluding karma begins.

10. The stage of one in whom the passions occur in a subtle form but complete elimination of all passions except for subtle degree of attachment.

11. The stage of one who has suppressed every passion but still does not possess omniscience. Suppressed passions and lingering conduct-deluding karma may rise to drag the soul to lower stages; fleeting experiences of equanimity.

12. The stage of who has annihilated every passion. This is the point of no return. All passions as well as conduct-deluding karma are eliminated. Permanent internal peace achieved. No new bondage from this point onwards.

13. The stage of omniscience with physical body. The all Destructive karma eliminated and Arihant stage reached. The perfected soul is still trapped in the physical body due to presence of remaining Non-Destructive Karma. The Lord Arihant now preaches others the path of liberation and helps seekers showing the path to cross the ocean of rebirths and reach the safe shore.

14. The stage of omniscience without physical body. Siddha Stage reached and the purest soul after destroying the remaining non-destructive karmas attains Nirvana and reaches the abode of the liberated soul. Now the soul is free from the cycle of births and deaths and enjoys infinite bliss. 

CONCLUSION

Meditation simply means vigilance on the true nature of the soul. In the Uttradhyayana Sutra, Lord Mahavir tells his chief disciple, Indrabhuti Gautama to be vigil in every moment on the meditative path. Lord Mahavira tells Gautama not to show laxity even for a moment. The true seeker never show laxity and always remains absorbed in his/her true nature of the soul. There are 12 types of austerities described in the Jain texts. The first 6 are external austerities and the rest 6 are internal. It is true that the external austerities are very important in stabilizing the internal austerities. Meditation has been categorized within internal austerities. The most important thing before starting meditation is Right Knowledge of the self-soul and rest of the substance of this universe. The seeker should always strive to be vigil in every step. Vigilance prevents karma influx and also destroys previously bounded karma.

-Rahul Zota
 Bhuj, India

COGNITIVE FUNCTION PART-2: DEFINITION

previous part

Upayoga is a particular term used in Jainism to describe functioning of the soul. Consciousness is the basic quality of a soul. A substance without qualities is not possible to exist. There is indestructible relation between a substance and its essential qualities. Knowing is the function of consciousness and is only possible in the conscious substance. Such conscious substance is the soul. Thus the quality of knowing is only possible in the soul. No matter how tasty is the sweet but its taste cannot be known by the dish or the spoon. No matter how scented is the flower, its fragrance cannot be smelled by the vase. The functioning conscious that comprehends the special attributes of a substance is Knowledge and the functioning conscious that comprehends the general attributes of a substance is Perception.

Such knowing and perceiving capability can be found only soul substance. That is only thing which differentiates the soul from matter. If we see from evolutionary aspect then Perception occurs first and knowledge occurs second. From the perspective of importance, it’s knowledge that comes first.

The Jain definition of Perception is similar to the word ‘Pereehtein’ used in Psychology. After general comprehension of an object, what the soul knows later about the object’s color etc is knowledge. In short, Perception of an object is like appearance without any kind of other information whereas knowledge brings the rest of information like its color, odor, constituents, its position in space etc. Knowledge is the superior thing in knowing and perceiving because it is knowledge only that brings the real thing, like learning about the scriptures, realizing about the soul.

By which the soul comprehends or acts to gain information about objects is called Upayoga or Cognitive Function. Acharya Umaswati has defined Upayoga as the soul’s basic attribute. Knowledge and Perception are two types of Upayoga. When the Upayoga is with shape then it is called Knowledge and when it is without any shape then it is called Perception.

Our soul’s cognitive function is always functioning since beginningless time and it is always variable, i.e., it never remains fixed or focused on a single object. Keeping it focused on a single object means we have mastered over meditation. The mundane souls (trapped in the four destructive karma) can focus their Upayoga on a single object for maximum 48 minutes. For Arihantas or the Omniscient (who are free from the four destructive karma or from all the eight types of karma) have Gnanopayoga (the functioning consciousness as knowledge) at first Samaya and Darshanopayoga (the functioning consciousness as perception) at second Samaya. Samaya, according to Jainism is the smallest amount of time and its value is 1 ^-800 second. Both Darshanopayoga and Gnanopayoga for omniscient is always active on any object. They don’t need to concentrate, whereas the non-omniscient souls have to give up concentration at least after 48 minutes.

The cognitive function of a soul can be fixed on a single object at a tme. The Upayoga working on two different objects at a same time is never possible. It is because of the infinite energy attribute of the soul that Upayog functions. To operate infinite gnanopayoga and darshanopayoga, it requires infinite energy, and it  is one of the basic attributes of the soul. 

Here, for the worldly souls, the knowledge obscuring karma obsures the absolute knowledge attribute of the soul, and the perception obscuring karma obscures the absolute perception attribute of the soul. There are many circumstances that makes the functioning of the soul impure and causes the karmic atoms to bind. Also in the functioning of the soul in its fully extent the power obstructing karma obstructs the power (infinite vigor or infinite energy) attribute of the soul. Because the infinite energy is required to fully function the gnanopayoga and darshanopayoga.

The more the functioning soul stays away from attachment-aversion and delusion the more it gets closer to pure upayoga. In order to get rid of endless misery and the cycle of rebirths and deaths, the worldly soul should try to keep its upayoga in learning the scriptures, paying homage to the spiritual masters and meditation. Attachment-aversion, and delusion are the results of the delusion karma and that adds more dirt to the pure upayoga. 

COGNITIVE FUNCTION: PART-1

INTRODUCTION

Knowledge is the basic attribute of a soul. To know the knowable is the attribute of knowledge. The soul knows the knowable objects not just by comprehension and knowledge but also by the functioning capacity of knowledge.

In Jainism, the cognitive function of a soul is translated as ‘Upayoga’. ‘Upa’ means to go near, and ‘yoga’ means the functioning of knowledge-perception. That means the functioning consciousness through which the soul gets oriented towards the act of knowing and perceiving is Upayoga. It is actually Upayoga through which the seeker realizes and differentiates the soul being independent from the body. That is why the Jain seers have said Upayoga as basic attribute of the soul.

Upayoga is of two types, Knowledge and Perception. Knowledge means by which the soul knows the special attributes of the subject. Perception means by which the soul knows the general attributes of the subject. The functioning consciousness with both knowledge and perception is known as ‘Gnanopyoga’ and ‘Darshanopayoga’ respectively. Here, Gnanopayoga can be translated as ‘the functioning consciousness as knowledge’ and Darshanopayoga can be translated as ‘the functioning consciousness as perception’.  Knowledge, Perception, Power and Bliss are the four basic qualities of a soul. Despite infinite energy (power), without Upayoga the soul is unable to comprehend the object. Infinite energy here operates the knowing, perceiving capacity as well as bliss of the soul. That is why the functioning consciousness with knowledge and perception is termed as Upayoga.

Upayoga is ever functioning attribute of a soul. Not any soul is without Upayoga for even a moment. Upayoga is always functioning in every soul, although the subject changes with time. The change of subject is regarded as Emergence, Cessation and Permanence of Upayoga. That means when Upayoga is functioning on some particular object then it is called Emergence, when it changes and functions towards a new object then the previous object’s functioning is called Cessation. The continuity of Upayoga between the changes is called Permanence. The maximum time of functioning of Upayoga on any object is 48 minutes for any mundane soul.  The alternate term of Upayoga is ‘Chitta’ or psyche.

next part

True Meaning of Renunciation

In Jainism renunciation has nothing to do with abandonment of outer things but abandoning our attachment to the outer things is the real definition of renunciation.  “External renunciation is meaningless if the soul remains fettered by internal shackles”, said Lord Mahavir. According to the teachings of all omniscient Tirthankaras, “We need nothing to renounce, because there is nothing to renounce. All the external things can never be achieved because the soul is an independent substance and has no relation with the external souls and matter.” Similarly, there is nothing that we can gain because the soul is complete with infinite bliss. All we need is to shift our vision from the outer world to the inner world by gaining the true knowledge of the attributes of the soul and its discrimination from the matter and other souls. If the right perception and conduct are then taken, then it leads to ultimate liberation.

All we need is to change our inner intent and focus the cognitive faculty (upa-yoga) to the pure nature of the soul. If the inner intent is purified then true renunciation is achieved. And when true renunciation is achieved the attachment towards the worldly things automatically ceases.

To understand this fact more deeply we need to go through a beautiful Jain story.

Once there lived a monk who had renounced all his luxury and became a nirgranth (unattached) monk. After renunciation he used to meditate day and night in solitary places. When meditating, he would stand like a statue and fix his eyes on an object in front of him and stop all his activities of mind, speech and body and remain in tune with the soul. Soon his fame spread all over and he became known as a great renouncer. Many people wanted to see him but it was hard to find him as he was living in the deep jungles. Once he arrived in a town to spend the four months of rainy season. All the people of that town wanted to see him. All were standing in a queue.

The king of that town also heard the news and his eagerness to meet the monk found no limit. He quickly approached the monk, bowed down to him and said, “oh monk! You have renounced all worldly attachments, you are great renouncer!” The monk grasped the king’s as well as the people’s wrong understanding about renunciation so he decided to teach them the true meaning of renunciation. He stood up and bowed down the king! Everyone present there were dumbfounded and there was a pin drop silence. The king asked the monk, “oh venerable, why are you bowing down to me? I am a worldly being and having attachment towards my wealth and kingdom.” The monk replied, “Oh king! If giving up only the kingdom is the definition of renunciation according to you then you’re great renouncer than me because I have renounced just my kingdom but you have renounced your soul which is full of infinite knowledge, infinite perception, infinite power and infinite bliss!” He further said, “Now tell me, oh king! Which one is greater? The kingdom or your own soul? I actually have renounced nothing but have gained my real self. To gain something more precious than you have, you will give up attachment towards the things you already have because something more precious is there and that is your own soul.”

The Science of Discrimination

The greatest achievement of human birth is the realization of the self. In order to realize what we are, who we are, we need to distinguish the self from the non-self. The greatest mistake of a soul is non-recognition of its real self and can only be corrected by recognizing the self, said Lord Mahavir. We all have identified the non-self as the self and that’s why we are all miserable. Because of the lack of true knowledge of the soul and the fully accomplished status of the soul we seek happiness from the external objects. According to our belief we need happiness from the outside world. Realizing the true nature of the soul and the fully accomplished status of the soul we come to know that we were actually inviting misery that is masked with illusory happiness. From the absolute perspective nothing is required to complete our happiness. The soul is filled with infinite bliss. All we need is to turn our vision towards the soul. For this we first need to develop faith to the existence of the soul and then remain stable and in tune with the self leads to self-realization.

Meditation starts with self enquiry when the seeker asks mentally, “Who am I?” Repeating this again and again one realizes that, I am not this body. Since infinite births we have recognized our body as our self. So going deeper in meditation we realize that this body is made of numerous atoms. Be it the mind or the senses, everything is ultimately made of minutest particles. There is no clear answer in science about how atoms can generate consciousness. If we say, I am the mind, then we become wrong when we say I am running, I am eating, etc because it’s not the mind who runs or eats but it’s our legs that runs, it’s our teeth that chews. Now, if we say I am the hands, the legs then again the problem will arise when we say I am the one who thinks because the mind (or the brain) does not eat, drink or run.

Those who go deeper in meditation and self contemplation realize that the self is one. This does mean that the self is unbroken or whole. It’s not made of different substances or different parts. The hands, the legs, the senses are seem to be different parts and each has their own functions. Then who’s the ultimate knower behind the functions of mind and the senses?

According to the Jain seers, the soul has four attributes, Infinite Knowledge, Infinite Perception, Infinite Power and Infinite Bliss. On the other hand the body (pudagal or matter) has different qualities viz. touch, taste, odor and color. Now we can see that both the substance have different qualities and there is no relation between the two. The self-soul is the knower seer and all other souls and matters outside us are the subject to be known and perceived by the soul. There is a beautiful story in Jain history that makes the picture of the self and the non-self clear for us.

Once there lived a man who had only son. Once, his son became sick and as days passed his sickness became stronger. All the doctors gave up hope of saving his son. Now it was the last day of his son’s life and he was lying on bed in the courtyard of his house. All the neighbors were present and the boys’ father was crying. None of the neighbors was able to stop his father.

Soon a Jain monk was passing by the house and he saw the gathering of people and enquired about what was happening. When he came to know the fact he had decided to make the man enlightened about the fact of the difference between body and soul. So he approached the man and asked, “Why are you crying?” The man said, “Can’t you see this? My only son is on bed and is going to die.”

The monk asked, “Where is your son? I can’t see him; can you please point out him?” The man in amazement pointed his finger to his son and said, “There he is!”

The monk asked again, “Where is he? That’s not your son, but his leg!” The man now pointing to his son’s hand said, “There he is!” The monk replied, “That’s not your son but his hand!” The man then pointed every part of his son’s body and the monk continued to reject his son’s existence in all those parts of his body.

The man finally said, “Oh monk! This entire body is my son!” The monk holding this point said, “Oh man! If this entire body is your son then why are you worried? You can preserve this body even after your son dies!” The man now was shocked knowing this fact that his son isn’t this mere body. He heard about the soul once in his life so he then said to the monk, “Oh Monk! The soul is my son!” The monk replied, “Oh man! If the soul is your son then there is no need to worry, because the soul is an uncreated entity. It was never born and it is never going to die. Be sure about this fact and come out from agony”.

The man and his son now realized the fact. The man became calm and his son now realizing the soul died peacefully and took birth into higher existence.

From this example we realize the existence of the soul being separate from matter (body). However below are the steps for self-realization and attainment of the option-less meditative state. Scriptural knowledge of the soul and experience of the soul are two different things. Right Perception cannot be attained through Scriptural knowledge only. One requires developing faith in the knowledge of a soul and then through meditation and other austerities self realization can be gained.

The seeker, who has now faith on the scriptural knowledge, first contemplates on the nature of the soul. Then he thinks about different natures of soul and matter. He then ignores which is not related with the soul, like the body, karma body, luminous body etc and at last whatever remains is the pure consciousness. Now the seeker, contemplates, “This is my real self, I am pure, I am liberated, I am eternal, I am knower-seer.” Gradually, while in tune with such contemplations he gets rid of mental thoughts and experiences bliss. After a short while he experiences the pure soul. His all energy is now focused in this experience and he gets rid of all kind of options. 

ACTIVITY AND INACTIVITY

People in the world have false impact about the real meaning of Activity. People live with affliction and disturbance and that is because of seeking happiness from material things. Be it a tiny insect or a human, all appear to be active in seeking pleasure. Such activity is polluted with attachment and aversion and that’s why it causes bondage. The sole reason of wandering in the cycle of rebirths is because of our activity in wrong things. That is why Lord Mahavir has shown the path of Inactivity. Stopping the influx of karma (samvar) is at centre in the spiritual path of Lord Mahavir. Engaging in worldly activity means to connect the self with the non-self. Disengaging from such activity does mean reuniting with the self, the pure soul. That can also be termed as “Introspection” or Pratikramana. Whenever there is feeling of inactivity there sprouts peace within.

In recent times, those who seek liberation can be seen doing too many activities. Today, all the monks in the Jain monastery are absorbed in external austerities like fasting and all. Their head monks usually take advantage of blindness of the new seeker. They create their own styles of austerity and force the new seeker to practice them. The fact is there is nothing to do for liberation except staying in tune with the pure soul. Stopping the influx of fresh karma (the influx of karmic atoms), is Inactivity. This is the state of complete non-doing, or do nothing except remaining or being fully conscious in the self-soul. Here the seeker becomes still and attains firmness in meditation. He becomes non-doer and becomes just a knower-seer (gyata-drashta) and remains unaffected and undisturbed by the outside world. Here he attains absolute bliss and does both Samvar-Nirjara (stoppage of karma and eradication of previously acquired karma) at a same time. 

KAYOTSARG

Tirthankar Parshvanath shown in Kayotsarg posture

Kayotsarg means to give up one's physical comfort and body movements, thus staying steady, either in a standing or any other posture, and concentrating upon the true nature of the soul as being separate from the body. Kayotsarg literally means abandonment of body, thoughts and mind and get absorbed only in the conscious self. It also means self-awareness by complete relaxation and inactivity.


Normally the practitioner takes a comfortable posture either lying down or sitting or standing and breathes calmly. Then self suggest each and every part and entity of the body to be relaxed and feel the same. Once the body is completely relaxed, the practitioner practices to realize separate existence of soul from body and then forget about the body and practices to identify the Self. Then one practices of complete awareness of the self without any hindrance.

Kayotsarg can be practiced in standing, sitting or lying down posture. Essential thing is to maintain the immobility of the body. A standing meditative posture was more common in olden days. A posture, easy to follow but difficult to practice. It is also called ‘urdhva Kayotsarg’. Kayotsarg or body abandonment posture. Standing like this, completely immobile with arms hanging free from the body, was considered a form of severe penance. It also shows that they were following the doctrine of ahimsa or non-violence, since by keeping still they could not harm any creatures, even accidentally.

In ancient times, the method of practicing Kayotsarg comprised of bodily relaxation. Practicing Kayotsarg with an awareness of inbreathing and out-breathing results in greater concentration and relaxation. Concentration is essential for practicing Kayotsarg, even though, Kayotsarg in itself is an exercise for increasing concentration. Synchronized with respiration, Kayotsarg becomes even more effective. Kayotsarg means 'rising above the body'. As one transcends the body, there is a falling off in the consciousness of outer phenomena. That is the right occasion for practicing anupreksha (contemplation) or auto-suggestion. As long as the conscious mind is active and gross consciousness operates, the practice of contemplation or autosuggestion is not wholly effective. But when a human goes deep into him/herself, a new event transpires.

All Tirthankars are depicted in Kayotsarg posture

Kayotsarg is typical to Jin spirituality. Historically, evidence of the same has been found even amongst the Indus Valley Civilization. Prof. Ram Prasad Chanda, who supervised Indus Valley Civilization excavations, states in his article Mohenjo-Daro: Sindh 5000 Years Ago in Modern Review (August, 1932) that, “Not only the seated deities on some of the Indus seals are in Yoga posture and bear witness to the prevalence of Yoga in the Indus Valley Civilization in that remote age, the standing deities on the seals also show Kayotsarg (a standing or sitting posture of meditation) position. The Kayotsarg posture is peculiarly Jain. It is a posture not of sitting but of standing. In the Adi Purana Book XV III, the Kayotsarg posture is described in connection with the penance of Rishabha, also known as Vrsabha.

Majority of the Jin followers of ancient world preferred to meditate in a standing posture. It was an exercise that required training, practice, and willpower. According to Hemchandra’s Yogshastra, provides one of the earliest lists of actual Yoga pose’s, all of which entail asana in the literal sense of sitting or standing: paryankasana, virasana, vajrasana, abjasana, bhadrasana, dandasana, utkatikasana, godohikasana, and Kayotsargasana. Kayotsarg, the last listed pose, carries a twofold distinction. First, it describes that the arms need to hang down (pramlambitabhujadvandam) and that one needs to stand in an attitude of equanimity toward the body (stanam kayanapeksam). Second, this pose, like the practice of the five vows, is said to deliver one into a state of bodily control: When the body of an ascetic remains immobile as he dwells in the posture called ‘abandoning the body’ (Kayotsarg)…this is said to be control of the body.

Hemachandra gives considerable attention to the five breaths, specifying their location and color.  He also relates the breaths to the elements. For Hemachandra, the mind and breath cannot be separated: Where the mind is there is the breath, and where the breath is there the mind is. Accordingly, they both have the same activity, mixed like milk and water.

If the practitioner of Yoga controls the breath, the mind comes under control, which is the key to liberation: When one of the two ceases to function, the other also ceases. When is active, the other is also active. When both activities stop, liberation results on account of the cessation of sensory impressions.

The centrality of breath in releasing one from discomfort and dissatisfaction (duhkh) cannot be overstated. The Yogshastra describes a mind-body continuum involving ethics, postures, breathing, and meditation. The Yogshastra describes the physical placement of lips, eyes, teeth, and countenance during meditation, and specifies that the meditator should face either east or north.

To practice standing meditative pose, choose a place where you are least disturbed. Stand still; initially you may take the support of a wall or pillar. Once you are used to standing without any movement you may not require any support at all. Next relax completely. Stand still! It will take a lot of practice to be still without any internal or external movement or wanting to move. When you are still physically, your internal body equilibrium may not be still. This too needs to be made still and only practice can make your body go absolutely immobile internally as well externally.

Once this motionless form is achieved, you should not feel your body. The only aspect of awareness will be your mind, your breath. The next aspect is to concentrate on breathing, pick any form that you are most comfortable with and get it into a rhythm. Ease your breathing and relax your body to the level that you do not feel it. Let go off all thoughts and even awareness. Once that is achieved, start concentrating on pure meditation. This is a start, when it is accomplished, aim for deeper form of meditation while standing. 

Written By: Dhara Kothari

Spiritual Lounge

http://spirituallounge.com/

What is "Not Doing"?

It is putting the mind aside, seeing without any prejudice, without any prior conclusion, without any conclusion at all. When our eyes are functioning just like mirrors, simply reflecting that which IS, neither condemning it nor appreciating it... when our eyes are non-judgmental, when we don't say, "This is good, this is bad. This should be, this should not be" -when we don't say anything, we don’t react, we simply reflect... then we see that which is -- otherwise not, ordinarily not. WE [our false ‘EGO”] have to disappear to see the reality as it is. If we are there, the more we are there, the less we see the real.

PRE REQUIREMENT OF RIGHT KNOWLEDGE BEFORE PENANCE

I salute those who observe long fasts for eradication of karma. But Right Knowledge is essential before practicing fasts and other external austerities. Fast should be observed to attain stability in meditation and the aim should be eradication of karma, if it is not done for such goal then it is all futile.

So it is highly required to gain Right Knowledge from the right spiritual teacher about the Six Substances, Nine Fundamentals, Substance-Essence-Modifications, the Emergence-Destruction-Permanence nature of the substances and knowledge of difference between the self and non-self. The aim behind all penances and meditation should be to achieve non-alternative state of Upayoga, without which our path becomes just practical and further diverts to fame, physical welfare etc and that is not the path of liberation. If one has not known the true nature of the soul being knower-seer apart from the body then one’s practice becomes meaningless and it becomes responsible for the rise of pride, attachment, ego etc. The only solution is the practitioner has to move towards his/her real form, the pure soul.

Our entire practice should be to get rid of physical and mental attachments. The real path is the sum up of both Absolute (knowledge) and Practical (austerities). Practicing both helps the soul to eternal bliss, which is liberation. Fasts and such external austerities are important because it creates a base for the internal austerities. The high amount of karmic atoms eradicates by internal austerities only. That’s why the practitioner should do spiritual meditation during the periods of fasting and should try to be absorbed in his/her soul. Meditation is a must for self realization and the external austerities are practiced to create strong base for it. That is why the enlighten say, “the one practicing just external austerities eradicates the same amount of karma in billions of years which is eradicated in just few seconds by the person who is absorbed in spiritual meditation.” So it is essential to start austerities only after gaining right knowledge, not before that!     

The Perfect Vision

We are fooled by our senses. We see and believe whatever we perceive through the senses. To approach reality we need to purify our vision and the point of view to see the world as it is in real. In the pre-historic and ancient times some people tried to approach reality and they did. For that they did chose meditation and restrained all the five senses to realize their self. Shri Krishna has said that, “The enlightened is aware where the ignorant is sleeping, and the ignorant is aware where the enlightened is sleeping.” That does mean the enlightened has perfect vision and he is not aware where the ignorant is absorbed, the subject of five senses.

To understand reality we need to understand the nature of the cosmos. Everything in this cosmos has dual nature. I have written about the six eternal Substances earlier. Nobody has created them and nobody can destroy them. These are Soul, Matter, Motion, Rest, Space and Time. All are independent and none depends on another. If we see through senses then we realize that all depends on each other. We have identified our self as human body. Animals have identified their self as their present body, like cow, lion, monkey etc. But actually this body is the Matter, the second substance. We are the souls that is another substance which has no relation with matter and the rest of four substances. Even there is no relation between every soul. To get rid of this confusion we have to see through higher stand point. It is known as The Absolute Stand Point. From the Absolute Stand Point substances will appear as they are. But this is still not absolute reality. There is one more stand point called The Practical Stand Point. Whatever we see and believe right now comes into this stand point, like I am body, I born once and dies once; I can do others’ welfare and can hurt or kill others. Every substance can do other’s work also comes in this stand point. Both stand points are real.

Going deeper into thinking we find two more stand points called The Substantial Stand Point and The Modal Stand Point. To know them we need to know the nature of all substances. All the six substances are with attributes like, Substance, Essence and Modifications. A substance undergoes changes but still maintains its eternity and Essence. The change is called modifications and is seen through the Modal Stand Point (Paryayarthika Naya). The eternity and essence that remains same is seen through the Substantial Stand Point (Dravyayarthika Naya). This is strange nature of all substances. For example, when we light up a candle then we think that the fire has emerged and when we light it off we think that the fire is vanished. But actually it has not! Our observation was through the Modal Stand Point. From the Substantial Stand Point the fire is still there in the form of atoms. All was the scientific process. The atoms that went into process created fire still exist and they were existed before the fire emerged. In this case the atoms are seen through the Substantial Stand Point and the fire is seen through the Modal Stand Point. The atoms are substance (Pudgal according to Jain terminology) and the fire was their modification (Paryay).  Same thing can be observed in the soul substance. The pure soul (free from karma), which has no mass, no color, no taste, no smell; no touch is seen from the Substantial Stand Point. And the soul as seen from the Modal Stand Point appears to be in humans, animals, plants, insect etc forms.

Every substance has dual nature, Special and General. Both are present in a substance in all three times (past, present and future). The Special nature is their various modifications which are seen through the Modal Stand Point and the General nature is the basic substantive qualities that remain same, unchanged that can be seen through the Substantial Stand Point. The soul is the knower-seer and the rest of all substances have no consciousness so are called “Jáda” in Jain terminology. The soul has two visions called general and special. Seeing through General vision we find all substances are eternal and unchanged. Seeing through Special vision we find all substances as always changing and momentary. The single vision is not perfect and is not taking an individual to ultimate realization. We can’t say that substances are only eternal. We can’t say that substances are only transitory. Such statement will be single faceted. The truth is multi faceted and can be expressed by integrating all stand points. So by just opening our single vision of consciousness we can’t approach reality. To approach the truth we have to open both visions together and such vision is called the perfect vision. If a pot made of clay breaks then the one who has perfect vision will say the pot is broken as well as it is not.

If observing all souls in this cosmos by opening the substantial vision what will we see? We will see all souls alike (by qualities). And what will we see if we close the substantial vision and open the modal vision? We will see all souls in various forms like plants, humans, animals, insect, and microorganism and so on, because all the souls are absorbed in their present modification. Now what will we see by opening both eyes together? We will see the souls’ both General and Special forms together. For example, I am the pure soul but I am right now absorbed in my human modification. Human modification comes from within but this human body is not mine. In my perfect vision I see that modifications and my soul (the substance) are united. The modifications are infinite but all comes from within (my own soul substance). Right now, in present birth I am in human modification. In the next birth I will be in other modification but my soul substance will remain unchanged.  Same thing can be observed in the non living substances like Matter, Medium of Motion, Medium of Rest, Space and Time. Attachment and aversion arise because of our orientation towards modifications only. Thus we have divided people, places into so many relations and names. We say, my father, my son, my mother, my wife, my home, my country and thus we becomes attached to them and whenever we depart from them we feel with aversion. Thus we further accumulate karma particles and keep wandering in the mundane world. Adopting the perfect vision we can easily get rid of attachment and aversion and can progress in spiritual meditation.

ESSENTIALITY OF EQUANIMITY IN LIFE

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 22^nd 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.