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121
Ätmasiddhi
born of the same parents display much diversity! There has to be some reason for all that, because nothing happens without a cause. The only sensible reason is that such things happen on account of something that a soul might have indulged in an earlier life. It shows that the soul must have been existing earlier and once we accept that, it is easy to see that it would continue to exist in the future.
The explanatory note given (Vachanamrut # 718) under this stanza is pertinent in this connection. It states, "The fury is noticed among snakes by birth; absence of violence is noticed among pigeons. From the very birth, bugs and other insects have the fear complex of being caught, and hence they tend to escape when we try to catch them. By birth, some beings have greater tendency of love, some have higher equanimity, some are more fearless, some have higher fear complex, some have more serenity, some have greater detachment, and some have more attachment for food, etc. Since such differences are noticed as existing from the birth, the reason therefor must lie in the traits developed from earlier lives."
આત્મા દ્રવ્ય નિત્ય છે, પર્યાયે પલટાય; બાળાદિ વય ત્રયનું, જ્ઞાન એકને થાય.
IIS CII
Ätmä Dravye Nitya Chhe, Paryäye Palatäy; Bälädi Vay Tranyanun, Jnän Ekane Thäy.
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