Book Title: Jainism The Cosmic Vision
Author(s): Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: UK Mahavir Foundation London

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Page 48
________________ Essence of Jainism cultivated equanimity towards life and death, union and separation, happiness and misery one should deeply reflect on the eternal soul. 2. Utter helplessness: Worldly objects, friends, kinsmen, loved ones all have their limitations. They cannot share one's diseases, grief and death. They cannot free one from one's fear. Supreme Doctrine (Dharma) propounded by the attachment-free Deity is the sole refuge in the world and one should seek refuge in it alone. 3. Transmigratory Existence : Tirthankaras (Builders of fordof-Religion which leads one across the ocean-of-transmigratoryexistence) have declared that this transmigratory existence involves constant and infinite misery. All its effects and all its associations or courses are miserable. One wrongly regards absence of misery as happiness. Feeling of my and mine and egoism gives rise to attachment and aversion. Attachment, desire and expectation lead to misery. Longing for delicious food, fear, lust and acquisitiveness causes a living being wander in the fourfold transmigratory existence for infinite times. So having become contented and equanimous, one must engage one's mind in virtuous concentration. 4. Absolute Aloneness: In this transmigratory existence, a being is born alone, and alone he dies. One alone has to experience the good or evil consequences of one's auspicious and inauspicious past deeds. One should constantly reflect : 'Nobody belongs to me, nor do I belong to anybody, my soul alone belongs to me.' So having turned inward, one should fix one's mind on virtuous concentration. 5. Fundamental Separateness: The soul and the body are utterly separate. Who am I? I am not this body. The relations that are due to it are also not mine. I am the immortal soul who 31 Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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