Power of Equanimity - સમતા - સમભાવ
Nishit Shah
II ૐ II
II Shree Satgurudevay Namah II
Jai Bhagwan Everyone,
In last November’s e-mail, we talked about us having done lots of good Karma (પુણ્ય) in prior lives to have the Mokshmarg in this life. We also talked about our evolution from Nigod to many different life forms to get where we are.
We can understand being able to do પુણ્ય in a human life. But what kind of પુણ્ય a Soul can do in Nigod to come out of there and continue to do પુણ્ય to move up in the various lower life forms to become a human?
Is coming out of Nigod and moving up in lower life forms to a human a random thing? No it is not.
Let us first understand what is going on in Nigod. By the time you finish reading this paragraph, a Soul in Nigod would have been born, lived its life and died hundreds of times. Yes, that is right.
A Soul in Nigod spends its short life in a common body with countless other Souls who are going through same birth, life and death cycles.
A Soul suffers most at the time of birth and death. In Nigod there is suffering going on in Soul’s short life as well because it spends the life in the same body with many other Souls. How uncomfortable and upset we get when we have to spend time in a crowded small room with others even for a short time?
We can just imagine what type of Rag and Dwesh a Soul in Nigod must be continually doing because we know what type of Rag and Dwesh we are doing with our family members living under one roof and when things do not go according to our expectations in our otherwise not so miserable life.
If a Soul manages to have some equanimity (સમતા - સમભાવ) instead of Rag and Dwesh (વિભાવ) while enduring continuous suffering in Nigod, it generates good Karma (પુણ્ય) and moves out of Nigod. But it is extremely difficult to have સમભાવ in Nigod. That is why it is very difficult to come out of Nigod. There are countless Souls who have never come out of Nigod and never will.
A Soul is independently capable of doing વિભાવ or staying in સમભાવ in every situation in any life form. વિભાવ or સમભાવ are going on in a Sansari Soul all the time. સમભાવ generates પુણ્ય and વિભાવ generates પાપ or bad Karma.
A Soul may continue to evolve to higher life forms by keeping સમભાવ until it becomes human where it has more options available to make પુણ્ય especially when it has the right combination of સત્દેવ, સત્ગુરૂ અને સત્ધર્મ like we do.
We can now imagine how difficult it must have been for us to evolve from Nigod into millions of different life forms and come where we are and also have the right combination. We can appreciate what પરમકૃપાળુ દેવ has written: મનુષ્યપણું, જ્ઞાનીનાં વચનોનું શ્રવણ પ્રાપ્ત થવું, તેની પ્રતીતિ થવી, અને તેમણે કહેલા માર્ગમાં પ્રવૃત્તિ થવી પરમ દુર્લભ છે, એમ શ્રી વર્ધમાનસ્વામીએ ઉત્તરાધ્યયનના ત્રીજા અધ્યયનમાં ઉપદેશ્યું છે.
Meaning that Mahavir Bhagwan has stated that it is exponentially difficult for a Soul to become a Mumukshu, be able to hear words of a જ્ઞાની, to believe in his words and follow his Agnyas.
Our efforts to minimize Kashays (કષાયની ઉપશાંતતા) by keeping સમભાવ and Agnya’s aradhan generate new પુણ્ય that continues to guide us in the current and future lives until we are liberated.
That is why પરમકૃપાળુ દેવ has emphasized on કષાયની ઉપશાંતતા and keeping સમભાવ through out the Vachnamrut.
For example, જહાં રાગ અને વળી દ્વેષ, તહાં સર્વદા માનો ક્લેશ; ઉદાસીનતાનો જ્યાં વાસ, સકળ દુઃખનો છે ત્યાં નાશ. Meaning, miseries exist where there is Rag and Dwesh, while ઉદાસીનતા (સમભાવ) eliminates all the miseries.
સમપરિણામે પરિણમવું યોગ્ય છે, અને એ જ અમારો બોધ છે. આ જ્યાં સુધી નહીં પરિણમે ત્યાં સુધી યથાર્થ બોધ પણ પરિણમે નહીં. Meaning, my advice is to keep સમભાવ because without the સમભાવ the aradhana will not produce any results.
This is the reason we are asked to watch our કષાય and try to keep સમભાવ when we go to attend a Shibir. We need to continue practicing this even after we come back in Sansar.
With શ્રી સત્ગુરૂદેવ ની કૃપા we also have the ultimate tool to counter these કષાય. We need to practice to use the tool effectively whether we are in the Shibir or in Sansar.
If we are not progressing in the Marg and feel stuck, it may be because we are running low on પુણ્ય. At that time we need to find out what we are doing wrong.
It could be that we are engaged in many Arambh and Parigrah which destroy વૈરાગ્ય resulting in doing કષાય instead of minimizing them by not being able to keep સમભાવ.
પરમકૃપાળુ દેવ states: જો જીવને આરંભ-પરિગ્રહનું પ્રવર્તન વિશેષ રહેતું હોય તો વૈરાગ્ય અને ઉપશમ હોય તો તે પણ ચાલ્યા જવા સંભવે છે, કેમકે આરંભ-પરિગ્રહ તે અવૈરાગ્ય અને અનુપશમનાં મૂળ છે, વૈરાગ્ય અને ઉપશમના કાળ છે.
Arambh and Parigrah do not give us time to do Agnya’s aradhan or not allow us to do the aradhan the way we should be doing. We need to find the right reason(s) as apply to us individually and correct ourselves to continue to make progress in the Marg.
Click on the Audio link to listen to a song about why we must continue our aradhan regardless of any situation in life especially after our long journey from Nigod.
Good Luck,
Aej Vinanti,
Sant Charan Sevak,
Nishit Shah
Nitin Shah
Nitin Shah
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Madhu & Indu Shah
On Jan 22, 2017, at 3:59 AM, 'Nitin Shah' via sat_sang <sat_...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Nishit Shah
II ૐ II
II Shree Satgurudevay Namah II
Jai Bhagwan Everyone,
Some of you cannot access the audio file link in the January, 2017 e-mail post and have asked for the access.
Please click on the below audio link in MP3 format to listen to it:
Good Luck,
Aej Vinanti,
Sant Charan Sevak,
Nishit Shah
Good Luck,
Aej Vinanti,
Sant Charan Sevak,
Nishit Shah
P.S.: If someone has question about how the Soul got into the Nigod in the first place and how all this started, we will have to wait for the answer until we meet કેવળજ્ઞાની Bhagwan or attain કેવળજ્ઞાન. Why? Because the only answer we get in the available scriptures is that it has always been like this and there is no beginning or end of the Universe..