Samayasara

This is a comprehensive summary of the provided text, which is an introduction and discussion of the Jain text "Samayasara" by Acharya Kundakunda, with commentary by Pandit Dhanyakumar Ganga Bhore:

Introduction to Samayasara

• Significance: "Samayasara" is considered a jewel in the literature of Acharya Kundakunda, a pivotal figure in Jainism. It is described as the original source of spiritual literature and a standard for all Jain literature.
• Core Subject: The central and sole subject of "Samayasara" is the "pure nature of the soul."
• Structure and Commentaries: The text contains 435 verses (Gathas) and is adorned with renowned commentaries: "Ātmakhyāti" by Acharya Amritachandra and "Tātparyavṛtti" by Acharya Jayasena.
• Meaning of "Samaya": The term "Samaya" refers to the soul (Ātma) that simultaneously (yugapat) attains and knows its own qualities and modifications.
• The Soul's Condition: The soul, though inherently unified and perfect in its essence of consciousness, has forgotten this true nature due to its own "errors of intellect" (prajñā). It has become entangled in external dependencies, experiencing ego, possessiveness, and afflictions like attachment, aversion, and delusion. This state of bondage is fundamentally discordant with the soul's true, unified nature.
• Widespread Delusion: This bondage is not limited to the ignorant but has also ensnared those who consider themselves enlightened. The concept of religion has often been used to perpetuate this deluded state.
• Ignorance of True Glory: Due to not realizing the self and not worshipping self-realized saints, the soul has remained ignorant of its own extraordinary splendor and unity. Blinded by subtle attachments, the soul has failed to perceive its own beauty and freedom.
• Misconception of Dharma: Simply refraining from gross sinful actions leads to a feeling of accomplishment, trapping the soul in a cycle of outward virtuous activities that are merely companions to spiritual feelings, rather than freeing it. This keeps the soul distant from experiencing its own glorious unity.

The Objective of Samayasara

• To Convey Oneness: The sole aim of this text is to convey the experience of the soul's oneness, despite its pervading presence in all worldly substances, while maintaining its distinct existence.
• Limitations of Language and the Need for Self-Experience: The power of words has its limits, and understanding the profound meaning of the subject is impossible through language alone. Therefore, the author emphasizes the importance of verifying the truths presented through personal experience, as stated by the Acharya: "It must be tested and proven through direct personal experience."
• Key Verse (Gatha 6): Gatha 6 is presented as the lifeblood of the book, defining the essence of the unified, pure soul. It states that the soul is neither "appramatta" (careless) nor "pramatta" (careless) but is the knower (jāṇago). The pure soul is that which is known as such.
• The Soul's True Nature: Despite experiencing various states of merit and demerit in the cycle of transmigration due to its state of bondage, the soul, in its essence as a stable knower, remains unaffected by these merit-demerit tendencies. It is experienced as distinct from all external substances, states, and modifications. When the soul becomes the refuge for its own faith, knowledge, and conduct, it is called "pure."
• Analogy of Water and Mud: Just as water, even when mixed with mud, remains pure in its nature, the soul, despite its impure modifications, retains its eternal, knowing, and stable nature. While the short-sighted ignorant perceive only the impurity and combination, the discerning wise, focusing on the self, experience and directly realize the pure, unassociated nature.
• The Ignorant vs. The Wise: The ignorant's life is limited by fleeting modifications and is constantly identified with these fluctuations. The wise, however, have a broader perspective, unaffected by modifications. They know these fluctuations but take refuge in their eternal, stable nature, making it the basis of their faith, knowledge, and conduct. This is the worship of the pure soul.
• The Knower and the Known: The soul is called the "knower" due to its engagement with the known, but it is neither caused by the known nor stained by them. The state of being the knower, experienced as such, represents its totality of qualities.
• The Ultimate Goal: The ultimate goal of all beings is to attain a pure, unified, natural state, free from all afflictions and the karmas that cause them. This is the abode of bliss, the state of the Supreme Soul, and liberation (Moksha).
• The Means to Liberation: Acharya Kundakunda, through "Samayasara," clarifies the fundamental problem: what is the means (or refuge) to achieve this ultimate goal? The answer is that the soul itself is the means. While other liberated souls serve as examples, they are separate entities.
• Self-Reliance: The soul is comprised of qualities and modifications. Currently, due to karmic association, it is impure in its modifications, and purity is absent in its current state. Therefore, relying on an impure modification for liberation is impossible.
• The Path of Knowledge: The wise, through introspection, perceive their pure, stable, knowing nature even within impure modifications. Accepting and relying on this inherent nature as the basis for faith, knowledge, and conduct is the true path to liberation. Acharya Kundakunda meticulously explains this subtle subject in the text.

Nischaya Naya (The Realist Viewpoint)

• Primacy of Nischaya Naya: In this profound text, the "Nischaya Naya" (realist or ultimate truth perspective) is primary because it alone is capable of grasping the soul's stable, knowing nature, which is essential for achieving the goal. The worldly "Vyavahara Naya" (conventional or practical truth perspective) is secondary and not directly useful for the ultimate goal.
• True Faith: The text emphasizes that one who adheres to the "Bhūyārtha" (ultimate reality) becomes a "Samyagdarshi" (one with right vision).
• Definition of Pure Naya (Gatha 14): Gatha 14 defines the "Shuddha Naya" (pure realist view) as seeing the soul as unbonded, untouched, one, eternal, undivided, and unassociated.
• The Soul's Bonded State: Due to the state of bondage, the soul appears to be bonded, touched by karmas, inconstant due to various fleeting modifications (like states in different realms), having infinite qualities, and associated with afflictions caused by karmas.
• Vyavahara Naya's Limitation: The "Vyavahara Naya," which describes the relationship between two distinct entities, is incapable of grasping the essence of reality and is therefore considered unproductive on the path to liberation. It is mentioned in scriptures only to clarify relationships with external factors.
• Nischaya Naya's Superiority: The conventional and dualistic perspectives (Vyavahara Naya or the differentiating aspect of Dravya Naya) analyze objects based on qualities and modifications. From the perspective of "Shuddha Naya," these are merely conventional. Since they do not aid the experience of the pure soul, they are to be discarded.
• Knowing vs. Experiencing: Knowing the essence of the self is different from experiencing it. While differentiating perspectives (Vyavahara Naya) serve as a preliminary step for knowledge and determination, they become obstacles to the ultimate experience of the unified soul. For direct experience, the non-dualistic "Shuddha Naya" is the most effective means.
• Ātmānubhūti as Shuddha Naya: The experience of the soul (Ātmānubhūti) is the result of the pure Naya. As this text is experience-oriented, the consistent adherence to the realist perspective is natural and appropriate for unfolding the subject.

Structure and Content of the Chapters

• Initial Verses (First Twelve Gathas): These serve as an introduction, outlining the purpose of the book, the subject matter (the nature of the pure soul), and the perspectives used. They also explain the nature of Vyavahara and Nischaya Naya, their scope, their harmony, and their relative importance and discardability.
• Comparison with Other Texts: While scriptures describe the states of beings (like stages of spiritual development, paths of inquiry) and the conduct of monks and laypeople, "Samayasara" focuses on the true path to liberation.
• Reconciling Apparent Contradictions: Sometimes, apparent contradictions arise for the disciple. In such cases, the Vyavahara perspective is presented as a prior argument (pūrva pakṣa) and clarified as not to be adopted for the ultimate path to Moksha, with its limitations also explained. The state of experiencing the soul's unity is beyond all such dualities.
• Primacy of Right Faith (Samyagdarshan): Without focusing on the unified soul, even the first step towards liberation, right faith, is impossible. Verse 13 states that understanding the seven elements (soul, non-soul, influx, bondage, merit, demerit, cessation, and liberation) through the pure Naya constitutes right faith. The realization of the pure soul, as described by the pure Naya, is right faith for the wise.
• Analysis of Nine Elements: The text breaks down the nine elements (Jiva, Ajiva, Asrava, Bandha, Punya, Papa, Samvara, Nirjara, Moksha) from the perspective of the pure Naya. This analysis reveals the pure soul. The process of "knowing" these nine elements from this perspective is what is beneficial on the path to Moksha.
• Nine Sections (Adhikaras): The original text "Samaya Prābhṛta" is divided into nine sections: Soul, Doer-Deeds, Merit-Demerit, Influx, Cessation, Extinction, Bondage, Liberation, and All-Pure Knowledge.
• Acharya Amritachandra's Commentary: Acharya Amritachandra structured his commentary into twelve chapters, presenting the subject in a dramatic format. He depicted the dance of the nine elements on the world's stage, with the first part as the prelude and the concluding chapters providing a glimpse of the "Anekanta" (multi-faceted reality) and the relationship between means and end. The commentary is praised for its profound philosophical depth and poetic beauty, making the abstract nature of the soul tangible.
• Acharya Jayasena's Commentary: Acharya Jayasena's commentary is described as simpler, more easily understandable, and effective in clarifying the core meaning at relevant points.

Chapter-wise Summary of Key Concepts

• Jiva Adhikara (Soul): The soul's inherent nature is that of a stable, luminous knower. This state can be attained through the three jewels of right faith, knowledge, and conduct, or through the soul's own self-absorption. The soul is pure in its substance and modifications. The soul itself is the refuge for the development of the three jewels. Ultimately, the soul is the object of worship, whether viewed conventionally or ultimately. The soul is inherently knowledgeable and indestructible. Ignorant souls, trapped in the cycle of attachment, have worshipped the body and afflictions rather than the soul.
• Ajiva Adhikara (Non-Soul): The ignorant have a mistaken belief about non-soul entities as well. They accept karma, external objects, karmic consequences, afflictions like attachment and aversion, and associations as their true nature. They fail to realize that the pure soul exists beyond these transient states. These karmas and afflictions are material and fleeting, and thus separate from the soul. Even if considered as the soul's modifications in other texts, it is a conventional description. The soul is pure consciousness, and these are incidental modifications.
• Karta Karma Adhikara (Doer-Deeds): The distinction between the doer and the deed is crucial for both the ignorant and the wise. The ignorant considers themselves the doer of karma, its results, afflictions like anger, and even the body. This belief is the root of transmigration. True knowledge dispels this ignorance. Those who distinguish between the soul and afflictions like attachment, aversion, and delusion are the truly wise. The soul, being inherently knowledgeable, is the doer of its own conscious modifications. Every substance is composed of substance, qualities, and modifications. From the substance perspective, each substance is the doer of its modifications. From the modification perspective, the preceding state of the substance is the material cause, and the substance capable of the current modification is the doer. The soul, being of the nature of consciousness, performs its own conscious modifications.
  • Nischaya (Ultimate Truth): Ultimately, the soul is the doer of its own conscious modifications.
  • Vyavahara (Conventional Truth): In a state of ignorance, when the soul's natural state is lost, afflictions like anger arise. In this state, the soul might be considered the doer of these modifications. However, external karmic matter becomes karma. The soul is not the doer of karmic or non-karmic matter. The soul, being eternal, cannot be the doer of actions that cause eternal bondage. The relationship between the soul's modifications and karmic matter is one of mutual dependence and concomitance, not direct agency.
• Punya Papa Adhikara (Merit and Demerit): In worldly scriptures, virtuous actions accompanying right faith, knowledge, and conduct, characterized by mild passions, are conventionally called "dharma" (virtue). This is because they involve the absence of intense passions. Merit is considered a part of this, from a conventional viewpoint.
  • The Conventional View: The conventionalist distinguishes between merit and demerit based on cause, nature, experience, and refuge.
  • The Ultimate View: From a deeper perspective, both merit and demerit are ultimately devoid of true self-nature, are material, and lead to bondage. They are not true dharma or causes of liberation. The true dharma is the state of non-attachment, which is beyond merit and demerit.
  • Discarding Vicious Cycles: The pure Naya discards the mild passionate virtuous outcomes as something to be rejected, not as a cause of helplessness. The pure soul itself is the refuge. Reliance on external practices like vows and austerities without internal self-reliance is considered immature. Right-viewed individuals accept all passions (whether virtuous or vicious) as causes of bondage, not as dharma.
  • The Path: A life solely focused on virtuous actions is far from the path to liberation. Similarly, a life absorbed in intellectual contemplation without self-absorption and attachment is also far from the path. The truly liberated experience a state beyond merit and demerit by relying on the pure, knowing soul and engaging in faith, knowledge, and conduct, even while operating within conventional reality.
• Āsrava Adhikara (Influx): The influx (Asrava) is the combination of the soul's modifications and the karmic matter that causes them. The soul, being eternally bonded, has inherent predispositions like delusion, non-restraint, passions, and activities. These predispositions, in turn, lead to the influx of new karmas. The modifications of attachment, aversion, and delusion that occur at the moment of the rise of previously bound karmas are instrumental in causing new influx. If the soul does not indulge in these afflictions, the karmic predispositions remain inert, like inert karmic masses. The wise soul recognizes these afflictions as incidental and external, and therefore rejects the influx element. This realization is directed towards the pure soul. The rejection of the influx element is essentially the experience of the soul itself, which is the path of liberation.
• Samvara Adhikara (Cessation): The soul and afflictions like anger are inherently different because the experience of the soul does not include anger, and the experience of anger does not include the soul. This realization of difference instantly frees the soul from influx, leads to self-realization, and stops the inflow of new karmas. While in a conventional state, one might practice restraint and vigilance, but the fundamental aspect is the awareness of distinction. Those who have experienced the soul as separate from passions have also separated themselves from karmas and non-karmas. The cessation of karma is the experience of the soul through this distinction.
• Nirjara Adhikara (Extinction): When the soul, through discrimination, accepts the pure self, the karmas that have risen to fruition pass away without causing new bondage through attachment, aversion, or delusion. This is called material extinction. However, for the ignorant, the absence of attachment to these results is the true spiritual extinction.
  • Karmic Extinction: Bound karmas rise and fall according to natural laws, and these results are experienced as pleasure or pain. For the wise, even when experiencing these results, there is no attachment, and therefore no new bondage. This experience, instead of causing bondage, becomes the cause of extinction. Bondage occurs only when there is attachment.
  • Non-Attachment: The wise are detached from worldly experiences even when they appear outwardly. They do not have desires for the fruits of these experiences. The wise engage in worldly dealings like a merchant, not an owner, and are not agitated by them. They experience these karmic effects, which cannot be avoided, but by knowledge and detachment, they neutralize the binding poison within them.
  • Freedom from Attachment: The wise do not willingly engage in worldly enjoyments or possessions. If they do, they fall from knowledge and become attached, leading to karmic bondage. The essence of the wise is the absence of attachment to passions. Therefore, all actions of the wise, including enjoyments, are performed without attachment, due to the strength of their discriminative knowledge, and they do not experience the bondage of infinite worldly cycles caused by passions. Bound karmas are shed without causing influx.
  • The Path to Liberation: Right faith and its eight limbs are the cause of extinction. The wise are fearless. Fear arises only from attachment to external things. They are desireless towards worldly experiences. Any action performed by a right-viewed person, infused with right faith, is indeed a cause of extinction. From the pure Naya perspective, distinction and detachment are the elements of extinction, and the realization of the soul is inherent in this.
• Bandha Adhikara (Bondage): Being attached with possessiveness to the rise of previously bound karmas or their results (pleasure/pain) is external association and is bondage. When karmas rise, the soul experiences modifications of delusion, attachment, and aversion. In ignorance, the soul considers itself the doer of external pleasures and pains, life and death, and is intoxicated with ego. If the belief in doership persists even in the five vows, there is bondage due to the presence of attachment. The Lord has declared that all attachment is to be discarded. The soul becomes engrossed with external causes of karmic rise. Therefore, to avoid bondage, one must turn towards their true nature and abandon these modifications. External substances are not the cause of bondage; modifications are. External substances can only be the occasion or refuge for modifications. Where these external substances are consciously accepted, volitional afflictions are inevitable. Attachment to external things is called "parasanga" (external association) and is the known cause of bondage, not the external object itself. Attributing bondage to external objects is like blaming others for one's own faults. In reality, attachments and modifications are the elements of bondage. Accepting attachments as something to be rejected is the realization of the pure soul.
• Moksha Adhikara (Liberation): Liberation is the direct separation of the soul from bondage. Merely knowing the nature of bondage or contemplating it does not lead to liberation. These are included in virtuous meditation. The daily rise and gradual extinction of karmas is also not the cause of liberation, because the ignorant soul experiences attachment and aversion to karmic outcomes. They do not separate them through their intellect and thus do not break the chain of bondage.
  • The Nature of Liberation: Just as the modification-view cannot distinguish between water and mud in muddy water, the soul, by resorting to its inherent nature, can immediately experience pure water. Similarly, in the impure worldly modifications, by taking refuge in the soul's inherent nature, the soul must differentiate between karmic afflictions and its own eternal, knowing essence through intellect. The wise know these afflictions as external and discardable and do not identify with them. They accept them as separate from the soul. This is the renunciation of afflictions. The practice of knowledge, vision, and conduct with the support of the pure soul is the acceptance of one's nature. Intellect is the only means.
  • Beyond Dualities: By accepting the soul as the doer of its own modifications and transcending even the concepts of causality related to external factors, and by achieving absorption in the pure soul, one achieves the path of liberation. Ultimately, by the subtle Naya, all mental modifications, including those related to causality, are removed, leading to an unwavering experience of the pure soul. This is the essence of liberation.
• Sarva Vishuddha Jnana Adhikara (All-Pure Knowledge): The pure soul, in its essence of knowing, is beyond the concepts of doership and enjoyership. The soul is inherently not the doer or enjoyer of attachments and aversions. In a state of ignorance, when afflictions like attachment and aversion arise, it is the ignorant soul that becomes the enjoyer. In a state of knowledge, the soul is the non-doer and non-enjoyer. This is the nectar-like spiritual mantra. To forget this and consider inert karma as the doer of afflictions is a perversion of spirituality. When karmic causes arise, becoming engrossed in them leads to afflictions due to one's own fault.
  • The True Offender: The text quotes: "The origin of afflictions like attachment and aversion in the soul is not the fault of external substances. Here, ignorance itself is the offender. If this is properly understood and ignorance completely removed, one realizes, 'I am only knowledge.'"
  • Responsibility: Those who attribute the origin of attachment and aversion to the mere conjunction of external substances, without acknowledging their own mistake of associating with them, cannot cross the great river of delusion. It is clear that no external object or the objects of the five senses are themselves the generators of attachment and aversion. They do not incite any soul with "Taste me!" or "See me!" Nor does the soul run to grasp external objects, leaving its own place. The soul is merely a knower and seer, naturally so, not due to external objects. Just as moonlight naturally illuminates all objects, knowledge, by its innate nature, is the knower, and objects are knowable by their nature. Knowledge reflects the forms of these knowable objects. To call knowledge the knower or seer of external substances is merely conventional. Ultimately, the worry about knowables and the resulting afflictions are themselves faults.
  • The Path of Right Conduct: Remaining stable in one's own knowing nature, free from afflictions of attachment and aversion, is right conduct. With this firm resolve, the wise do not experience attachment in past karmic outcomes or activities, and they achieve stability beyond modifications. This is their true repentance. Similarly, the confession of present actions (mind, speech, body) and the renunciation of future actions and choices are experienced internally as the pure soul. Therefore, the wise soul does not experience attachment in actions related to the past, present, and future. In this way, the wise, by renouncing all doership (through creation, causing, and approval), renounces attachment to past, present, and future karmic results and considers themselves separate. Thus, they do not experience the enjoyership of karmic fruits. Freed from karmic consciousness and the consciousness of karmic fruits, they remain immovably established in the consciousness of knowledge.
  • The Essence of the Soul: Knowledge, by its very nature, is distinct from external substances like touch, taste, smell, and colors. These external substances are merely knowable. Being separate, they are neither to be rejected nor accepted. Since the soul and knowledge are inseparable, just as the soul is knowledge, the soul is also restraint, austerity, and initiation. Therefore, the wise do not have a sense of possessiveness towards external signs like the body. From the ultimate perspective, the path to liberation is not the monk's outer appearance or the householder's attire. Only the stable knowledge in the all-pure soul is the sign of liberation, the essence of renunciation, equanimity, and the most important and beneficial aspect on the path to liberation. Thus, absorption in the single pure knowledge element is the direct and essential cause of liberation.
• Syādvāda Adhikara and Upāya-Upeya Adhikara (Doctrine of Relativity and Means-End): Although the soul is described as mere knowledge, the commentator Acharya Amritachandra scientifically demonstrates how the soul embodies "Anekanta" (relativity) and elaborates on the relationship between the means and the end. The soul, being real in its own substance, space, time, and nature, is simultaneously unreal in relation to external substances, space, time, and nature. Similarly, unity-negativity, permanence-impermanence, and identity-non-identity are inherent in the soul depending on the context. The text elaborates on how accepting Anekanta prevents the loss of the essence of reality due to one-sided views. The pure modification of the soul is the end, and the reliance on the pure knowing aspect is the means.
• Primacy of Pure Naya: The exposition in "Samayasara" is primarily guided by the pure Naya, which grasps the pure soul. This perspective has uniquely and surpassingly expanded its subject matter. The independence of the substance is the lifeblood of Jain philosophy. The soul is the central point of this philosophical understanding. Therefore, throughout the text, the soul's independence and the self-reliant nature of the means are beautifully and clearly presented.
• Modern Perversions: Due to the influence of ignorance and the prevalence of concepts of incidental doership over time, this subtle soul-knowledge has been greatly distorted. This has led to a regrettable sectarianism in the understanding of true dharma. The text mentions examples of deviation in both the Shvetambara and Digambara traditions. The preservation of the true path to liberation is a significant historical contribution by the era-defining, supremely conscious Acharya Kundakunda to Jainism.
• Qualities of the Text: The text possesses the depth of an ocean, the vastness of the sky, and the clarity of sunlight in its subject matter related to the subtle soul. It is a jewel that grants the seeker the realization of the soul's divided oneness. It is free from contradictions and does not conflict with established legal principles or the logic within scriptural texts. The pure nature of the soul is based on the fundamental principles of Jain cosmology. This text is the primary source and origin of spiritual texts, pointing towards the ultimate goal of all scriptures and the ultimate aim of all scriptural discourse. Subsequent authors have considered themselves fortunate to imprint the indelible mark of this text on their own works. The essential pure Naya-based substance-view of this text is like a wish-fulfilling cow for liberation and the attainment of true absorption. Salutations to the supremely beneficial Acharya Kundakunda for all time.