Light Of Soul

This document contains the beginning of a Jain text titled "Light of the Soul" (also referred to as "Hridaya Pradipa"), published by Shree Vriddhichandrajee Jain Sabha.

Here's a comprehensive summary of the provided pages:

Overall Nature of the Text:

• Spiritual and Ethical Guidance: The book is a translation and explanation of Sanskrit verses, offering profound spiritual and ethical guidance rooted in Jain philosophy.
• Focus on Inner Transformation: The core message revolves around understanding the soul, achieving self-knowledge, conquering the mind, and attaining true happiness through detachment and spiritual practices.
• Universality: The text emphasizes that its principles are common to many philosophical systems and offer salvation to all, irrespective of caste, creed, nationality, or sex.
• Dedication: The work is dedicated to the memory of Mr. Lallubhai Motichand Mehta, a respected judge, highlighting his noble ideals and serving as a tribute to his life.

Key Themes and Concepts Presented (based on the preface and early verses):

1. The Nature of the Soul and Reality:

   • The preface mentions unfolding divine truths about the animate and inanimate through contemplation and purging wrong knowledge.
   • Verse 1 (Sanskrit and Gujarati translation provided) discusses "Anubhavajnana" or experiential knowledge, which helps discriminate between non-intelligent objects and brings forth actions from previous births. This knowledge is considered a form of direct perception.

2. Attainment of True Happiness and Salvation:

   • The path to true happiness lies in eradicating the bondage of Karma.
   • This involves annihilating infatuating energies like delusion, lust, anger, and pride, which impair the soul's natural qualities.
   • The text emphasizes the importance of right knowledge, right belief, and right conduct.
   • The conquest of the "ungovernable mind" is presented as a sure means to true knowledge.
   • Spiritual trance and quietude of mind are superior to worldly sovereignty.
   • Dis-attachment (Vairagya) is a highly praised virtue.

3. Critique of False Ascetics and Emphasis on True Renunciation:

   • The author condemns "so-called ascetics" who are attached to worldly enjoyments.
   • Only those who have secured right knowledge, belief, and conduct are truly praised.

4. Value of Knowledge and Wisdom:

   • The study of a single verse illuminating the path of truth is preferred over studying numerous books with trivial content.
   • Verse 2 highlights the rarity of individuals who can both understand and practice religious principles. It contrasts those who know but cannot act, and those who can act but do not know.

5. The Body and Worldly Attachments:

   • Verses 4 and 5 describe the human body as a source of misery, filled with impurities and subject to decay.
   • The text distinguishes the worldly person's view of the body as a means for enjoyment from the yogi's view of it as a means for absolute knowledge.
   • Verse 6 points out the absurdity of attachment to a body composed of skin, flesh, fat, bones, ordure, and urine, especially when the soul possesses the power of discrimination.
   • Verse 7 critiques the insatiable desire for wealth, identifying it as the sole cause of misery.

6. The Nature of Worldly Suffering and Its Remedy:

   • Verse 8 states that worldly afflictions are the greatest disease, and sound thought is the superior medicine.
   • Verse 9 asserts that true happiness comes from understanding the impermanence of worldly things and devotion to higher truth through a preceptor.
   • Verse 10 describes how beings wander in the darkness of delusion, pained by worldly afflictions, until they realize their true self through the "Sun of discrimination."
   • Verse 11 notes that for those who realize their true self, wealth, women's charms, and sensual pleasures appear worthless or poisonous.

7. Practical Advice and Conduct:

   • Verse 12 advises focusing on one's own duties and abandoning unnecessary concern for others' faults or troubles.
   • Verse 13 warns against actions that bring momentary pleasure but endless misery and mental anguish.
   • Verse 14 highlights the power of "Kama" (desire or Cupid) to destroy the lifelong efforts of ascetics in contemplation, austerity, knowledge, and truthfulness.
   • Verse 15 identifies delusion as an enemy that destroys knowledge and discrimination, and states that illusion disappears through the knowledge of religious truth.
   • Verse 16 notes that despite constant efforts for good, evil is not rooted out, and happiness is not permanent, suggesting the importance of the Jain theory of Karma and the element of choice.
   • Verse 17 points out that fictitious sensory happiness is common and not a cause for surprise, emphasizing the search for real causes of substantial happiness.
   • Verse 18 criticizes worldly people for taking the causes of desires (like food and drink) as remedies, while ascetics renounce them.
   • Verse 19 strongly condemns those who, after adopting asceticism, still cherish wealth, desires, and taste, calling it a ridiculous deception.
   • Verse 20 identifies hypocrites, false ascetics, and deceivers as those who outwardly appear disaffected but inwardly are attached to sensual enjoyments.
   • Verse 21 describes worldly people as ignorant, easily swayed by rogues' words, leading to mental delusion.
   • Verse 22 praises those who are free from desires, attachments, ego, and have rooted out desires by cultivating contentment; they please their own mind, not the people.
   • Verse 23 states that one is interested in pleasing people and engaging in disputes only until they realize the bliss of their own self.
   • Verse 24 acknowledges the contradictions between philosophical systems and the diversity of human paths, making it impossible to please everyone.
   • Verse 25 equates kingdom, wealth, austerity, and arts with the state of mind that achieves stability and tranquility; otherwise, these are fruitless.
   • Verse 26 emphasizes inner peace, suggesting that external approval or disapproval is irrelevant to the steadfast yogi who remains indifferent.
   • Verse 27 highlights that one alone goes to hell for sins, to heaven for merits, and to Moksha by shedding merits and demerits. earthly connections provide no true solace.
   • Verse 28 states that even kings who conquered the three worlds couldn't subdue their minds, making the conquest of the mind far more valuable than conquering the world.
   • Verse 29 extols mind-withdrawal (Manolaya), reflection on spiritual truth (Tattvartha Vicharana), and concentration happiness (Samadhi Saukhya) as the quintessence of life.
   • Verse 30 suggests that when the mind is tranquil, even great powers, medicines, and incantations appear like poison, implying their insignificance compared to inner peace.
   • Verse 31 states that those bewildered by thoughts, anxieties, and worldly sorrows cannot even dream of concentration's happiness.
   • Verse 32 argues that one verse illuminating the path of truth is superior to studying countless books for popular acclaim.
   • Verse 33 asserts that the desire for sensual pleasure lasts only until the happiness of mental tranquility is experienced; then, even the sovereignty of the three worlds holds no appeal.
   • Verse 34 contrasts the temporary happiness of gods and kings with the permanent bliss of an ascetic devoted to self-realization.
   • Verse 35 suggests that just as a mind engaged in many tasks finds no rest, a person devoid of discerning thought cannot grasp the truth within.
   • Verse 36 states that craving sensual pleasures becomes abhorrent when even a little spiritual bliss is tasted.
   • The concluding remarks emphasize the superiority of spiritual happiness over worldly achievements and the importance of detachment and mental attitude.

Biographical Sketch of Lallubhai Motichand Mehta:

The text includes a significant portion dedicated to a biographical sketch of Mr. Lallubhai Motichand Mehta. This sketch highlights:

• His birth in Bhavnagar in 1880 into a respectable Jain family.
• His distinguished academic career, including passing Matriculation and college examinations with scholarships.
• His early promise and religious upbringing.
• A serious illness that affected his studies but showcased his noble character when he helped a fellow student.
• His career progression in the Bhavnagar State service, starting as a teacher and then moving into the judicial service, serving as a Magistrate and Judge.
• His reputation as a fearless, independent, and upright judge, accessible to the people.
• His involvement in local activities for moral, intellectual, and social progress, and his efforts during a famine.
• His untimely death in December 1912 due to illness, despite extensive medical care and support from various individuals and the state.
• His character: generous, altruistic, humble, possessing great organizing capacity, and having progressive social views.
• The tragic loss of his only son shortly after his death, deepening the family's sorrow.

The Publisher and Author:

• Publisher: The Vriddhichandrajee Jain Sabha, Bhavnagar.
• Author/Translator: Motilal Muljibhai Shah, Honorary Secretary of the Vriddhichandrajinikaniauswaha. He acknowledges the help of several individuals in preparing the translation and notes.

In essence, "Light of the Soul" is presented as a valuable spiritual text that guides individuals towards self-realization and liberation through ethical conduct, detachment, and the pursuit of spiritual knowledge, all while honoring the memory of a virtuous individual.