Monday, January 26, 2009

Homework#1 Solution

Homework: If kids fight, they forget it fast. If elders fight, they keep it with them for long. Why?

Solution:

Usually when we have a fight, and we do not deal with the person in the future at all- we usually forget it. However when we fight with someone whom we have deal with in the future, the emotions of anger hang on to us.

Whether it is kids or elders - both of them have fight with people whom they have to deal with in the future, but it seems kids do not keep the anger in their heart for a long, while elders do.

The reason seems to be because:
  • Kids do not have ego associated with fights. Adults on the other hand tend to take insults more seriously as a blow to their pride and self worth, and tend to think about it instead of just letting it go, forming a grudge.
  • Kids do not have long term associations or goals in their mind, which would be affected by the doing by other person.
  • Kids do not put permanent labels of 'good' and 'bad' to others.

That is why Kids are more into 'forgive and forget' attitude, and have fun.

As kids grow-
  • Their sense of ego increases. Now they carry an image and do not want to get it spoiled easily.
  • Their labels of 'good' and 'bad' to other objects deepens. Because they observe the good person remain good for longer and same with bad one. (In scriptural language 'Ishta Anishta Buddhii' deepens.)
  • They start setting their goals for a longer term. And along with it the emotions which revolve around goals also stay longer.
  • They start achieving things and take pride in those things as 'mine'. And any emotions around those touch them deeper, and also longer.

The thing to note in above is- both Kids and elders are Mithya Drsithi (with wrong belief) in above case. Because of wrong believes, how kids develop bad emotions to be lasting longer is explained above.


Sunday, January 25, 2009

Summary - Sutra 6

Date of Swadhyaya: 24 Jan
Attendees: Nimesh, Harshil, Atul Ji, Rekha Ji, Naveen Ji, Ruchi Ji, Pradip Ji, Sahil Ji, Vishal Ji, Parag Ji
Summary Prepared by: Shrish
Chapter No: 1
Sutra No: 6
Recorded lecture: Will be posting soon. Need to transfer from voice recoder
Summary:

Sutra 6: || Pramaan Nayair Dhigamah||

To understsand 7 tatva, we use Pramaan and Naya.

There are three things relevant to know here:
Paramaan: which is used to know things (Gyaan of Soul)
Prameya: the object which we know
Pramata: the one who knows. (= Soul)

Here in this Sutra we talk about Pramaan, which is actually the Gyaan of soul, using which we get to know things. Pramaan is of 2 types:
1. Swaarth,
2. Paraarth.

Swarth Pramaan = Using which knower knows himself
Pararth Pramaan = Using which knower communicates to others.

Analogy with Camera and computer: We used camera and computer to help explain the above concept. As Camera shoots a picture, which is stored in the camera. Now the same picture is transferred to computer using the following steps:
Step1 : Camera is connected to computer using wire.
Step2: Camera transmits the photo byte by byte through wire. Lets say it takes around 2 minutes to transfer
Step 3: Computer looks at all the bytes and reconstructs the photo and display.

We use the same process when we know something and want to communicate to someone. FOr example, If I went to seattle and acquired knowledge about the city, and now want to communcate to someone in San Jose. So I will use words and senetences to express the knowledge about Seattle and start talking to the other person. This process will contain many aspects of Seattle- for example - It looks beautiful. There are people from all culture. It rains 80% of times in a year. It is less densly populated than San Jose. etc.. And I take around 30 minutes to communicate my findings to the other person. After the communication is complete the other person is able to understand how the Seattle is.

As Camera transmitted information about photo in form of bytes, here I used words to commiunicate to the other person. These wordly knowledge is called 'Pararth Pramaan', and the knowledhe which I had about seattle in myself is 'Swarth Pramaan'. And after the other person has listened to, he also has the 'Swarth Pramaan' in himself.

Also the words which I used to explain Seattle- the sentence which described seattle from one perspective is called 'Naya'. And all aspects (Naya's) together help building the knowledge of Seattle in other person, which is called Pramaan.

There are 5 kind of Gyaan : Mati Gyaan, Shrut Gyan. Avadhi Gyaan, Manah Paryaya Gyaan, Keval Gyaan

In above 5 Gyaan, only Shrut Gyaan has both Swarth and Parath aspects, other 4 Gyaan are just Swarth Gyaan.

We also talked about the homework, and I will be posting about it in a different blog
Please let me know any typos in above.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Chapter 1 gaatha 5 and 6

Classnotes: 01/17/2008

We first revised the first four gaathas of the chapter 1. Then, we discussed the fifth gaatha in detail, and started discussion on the sixth gaatha in today’s class.

One can follow two different ways to attain nischay samyak-charitra: a) attain the monkhood, and then work on improving the nischay samyak-darshan; or b) attain the nischay samyak-darshan first, and then attain the monkhood.

Second Gaatha:
Two types of samyak-darshans:
a) Vyavhar samyak-darshan: true faith in seven tatvas. It is a sadhan that helps to attain nishchay samyak-darshan.
b) Nishchay samyak-darshan: true faith in the soul. All the wrong beliefs will permanently disappear. In general, a samyakdrasti will be down to earth, and compassionate. This state shows one’s internal and external charitra.

Q. What is tatvarth?
A. Tatvarth = tatva + arth
Tatva = tat + tva
Tat: related to
Tva: existence
Tatva: properties of the object that proves the existence of the object
Arth: object

Thus, tatvarth means the object and its properties, and samyak-darshan is the true belief in tatvarth.

Classification of samyak-darshan based on the charitra:
a) Sarag samyak-darshan: this is in the shravak avastha
b) Vitrag samyak-darshan: this is in the muni avastha

Properties of samyak-drasti:
a) Prasham:
The intensity of kashay is very negligible in the prasham state. So, even if the anantanubandhi kashay is in uday, the bhav and parinam may become pratyakanavarniya type.

Examples of types of kashay:
· anantanubandhi: it takes ages for a line drawn on a stone to go away
· apratyakhyanavarniya: it takes comparatively less time for a line drawn on the ground to go away
· pratyakhyanavarniya: it takes even less time for a line drawn on sand to go away
· samjwalan: it takes no time for a line drawn on water to go away

b) Samveg:
Detachment from the material world; and, attachment in vitragta

c) Aanukampa:
Compassion for others is aanukampa. Two types:
a) Lokik aanukampa: to feel the suffering of others
b) Parlokik aanukampa: to feel the sufferings of the others and the self due to ignorance, attachment, and engrossment in the worldly pleasures.

d) Aastikya:
To believe in the form of the objects exactly as described in the aagams

Fourth gaatha:
a) Jeeva: whose quality is chetan
b) Aajeeva: whose quality is aachetan
c) Aashrav: the influx of karma
d) Bandh: mingling of jeeva and karma
e) Nirjara: process of shedding karma
f) Samvar: process of stopping the influx of karma
g) Moksh: pure state of jeeva with no karma attached

Q. How can we ascertain that one has developed true belief in seven tatvas?
A. When one starts feeling about attending to monks; strongly feels the want to attain the moksh; shows extreme levels of compassion for the aashrav and bandh with respect to others and for the self.

Fifth gaatha:
Samyak-darshan, etc. and Jeeva, etc. are described and mapped using:
a) Naam: To name something in order to conduct the worldly business, even though it doesn’t have the properties generally attributed to the name is naam nikshep. For example, if some parents name their child Indra, that child may not necessarily possess virtues generally associated with Indra.
b) Sthapna: to establish some thing in object is sthapna nikshep. For example, naming a wooden piece on the chessboard as ‘horse’ is sthapna. Two types: a) tadakar: to create the idol of the jinendra in a metal, and b) aatadakar: to create a wooden piece for a chessboard with the face of horse.
c) Dravya: the objects that holds future state of something is dravya nikshep. For example, calling a piece of metal, a ‘jinendra’, that will be used in the future to create an idol of jinendra.
d) Bhav: the objects that holds current state of something is bhav. For example, to call an Indra, the lord of heaven, Indra is bhav nikshep.

The naam, sthapna, and dravya nikshep are with respect to dravya-nay, while, bhav nikshep is with respect to paryay-nay. The purpose of describing these niksheps is to prevent misinterpretation of the samyak-darshan, etc. and jeeva, etc.

Sixth Gaatha:
To learn and understand things based on praman and nay. To be discussed in details in the next class.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Date of Swadhyaya: 10th Jan, 2009
Attendees, Summary Prepared by, Chapter No: Same as Sutra No 1
Sutra No: 2
Tatvaarth Shraddhaanam Samyagdarshanam||2||
Summary:
Knowing the true properties/behaviour of an object and having true belief in it is Tatvaarth, and the faith/Shraddhan of Tatvaarth is SamyagDarshan.

Tatva + Aarth = "Tatvaarth", i.e. Jo padaarth jis roop mein sthit hai uska us hi roop mein hona "Tatva" hai, aur jiska Nischay kiya jata hai use Aarth kehte hai.

Tatva ka matlab hai Bhaav, aur Aarth ka matlab hai Bhaav-vaan. Na keval Bhaav aur nahi Keval Bhaav-vaan ke shraddhan ko SamyagDarshan kahenge, kintu Bhaav Vishishth Bhaav-vaan ka Shraddhan hi SamyagDarshan hai.
SamyagDarshan has two types:
1) Saraag
2) Veetraag

1)Parts of Saraag Samyagdarshan are:
i) Prasham : Teevrataa ka Raag na hona Prasham hai.
ii) Samveg : Sansaar, Shareer aur Bhogo se bhaybheet hona Samveg hai.
iii) Anukampa : Sab jeev ke prati daya bhaav ya mitrataa ya unke dukh ko aapna dukh maan na anukampa hai.
iv) Aastikya: Aagam mein jeev aadi padaartho ka jaisa swaroop kaha hai ushi roop mein unhe maan na Aastikay hai

Saraag Samyagdrashti jeev mein yeh chaaro baate payi jaati hai .

2) Jeev ki vishuddhi ko Veetraag Samyuagdarshan kaha gaya hai.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Date of Swadhyaya: 10th January, 2009
Attendees: Shrishbhai, Pradeepbhai, Ruchi ben, Vishal bhai, Ridhiben, Sonal ben and others.
Summary Prepared by: Dhyanesh Harshad Bagadia
Chapter No: 1
Sutra No: 1
Recorded lecture:
Summary:
Before I can start, let me try to explain ideally how should we try to understand a sutra/gaatha/any scripture (hence forth will call it as sutra). Ideally we must try to understand 5 Aarth of a sutra, namely:
1) Shabdaarth
2) Nayaarth
3) Bhaavaarth
4) Aagamaarth
5) Mataarth

Let us understand what does these 5 meanings stand for:
1) Shabdaarth(
Shabd + Aarth): It means, literal translation of the words from its original lipi to the language we know are intend to study and try understanding the meaning of each word. This one is the most straightforward, simplest and basic of all other meanings, hence this should be the first way of understanding a sutra.

2) Nayaarth (Nay + aarth)- Nay, meaning Perspective. Understand the perspective of the sutra and then try to understand the meaning of the sutra with respect to its perspective. We must try to find where does the meaning fit as which property of an object (aarth of tatva). This will make us open our mind and provide us with multiple meaning of a sutra of which we must try to understand which suits the most.

3) Bhaavaarth (Bhaav + aarth) : Bhaav means intention. We must try to understand what is the intention behind the sutra. This will help us to understand what does the sutra directly imply and what does it negate. It helps us to understand what we must not do, take, learn, feel vs what we must do, take, learn or feel.

4) Aagamaarth (Aagam + Aarth): With respect to Aagam. Where does this sutra fit in our Aagam, What teaching/message of Aagam does it belong to or implies.

5) Mataarth (Mat + aarth) : Mat - opinion. This means, different opinion of a sutra. Probably toughest of all and most extensive and exhaustive of all the above Aarth. Mataarth, means we must try to understand how does different religion preach or mean this sutra. Being most extensive and exhaustive, it will also make us understand why Jainism is correct and what are the mistakes in other religion if they have different means/meaning 'to attain this'/'of' sutra.

With this, let us start the Aadhayay 1 - Sutra 1 of Tatvarth Sutra.

Let us start with the basic question, How to Attain Moksh?
Answer to it is:


Samyagdarshan Gyan Chaaritrani Mokshamaargaha||1||

Samyagdharshan (
Samyak + Dharshan), SamyagGyan (Samyak + Gyan) and Samyakcharitra (Samyak + Charitra) is the path to Moksha. According to the lipi, when two words, Darshan and Gyan are joined with the word Samyak, it becomes Samyag.
This sutra means, collectively all three shows us the path to Moksha, Just by attaining either 1 or two of these 3, we will not attain Moksha, hence Attaining and Retaining Samyagdarshan, SamyagGyan and Samyakcharitra will lead us to Moksha.

First Question: What is Samyak? Here if we go by Nayaarth, Samyak means Prashansha. So the sutra means, collectively, Prashanshniya Darshan,
Prashanshniya Gyan and Prashanshniya Charitra lead us the path to Moksha.

Second Question: What is
Samyagdarshan, SamyagGyan and Samyakcharitra?
Samyagdarshan means beliving/faith of (Shraddhaan) the real/true behaviour and nature of an object is Samyagdarshan.
Understanding/knowing
the real/true behaviour and nature of an object is Samyaggyan.
Abstaining from acts that leads to Karmbandh is called Samyakcharitra, i.e. putting into action the Samyagdarshan along with Samyaggyan.

Third Question: What is the order of
Samyagdarshan, SamyagGyan and Samyakcharitra in which we can attain them?
Actually it is bit debatable topic as different set of people have different belief but the common belief is, First we will have Gyan and using the Gyan we will have Shraddhan in what we have Gyan, hence darshan is after Gyan. More the Gyan better the Shraddhan and finally we will attain SamyagDarshan with the Shraddhan. Along with SamyagDarshan we will also attain SamyagGyan. To summarize,
Gyan->Darshan->Samyagdarshan==>SamyagGyan
After jeev attains samyagdarshan and Samyaggya, it will attain Samyagdarshan.

When the Oopsham/Kshyopsham/Kshay of Darshanmohniya Karm happens at that moment jeev will attain Samyagdarshan and the very same moment (Kshan), jeev's Kumati and Kushrut gyan will get destroyed and it will attain Matigyan and Shrutgyan, hence practically speaking there is no time difference between attaining either of these.

Because ,upon attaining SamyagDarshan, Mithyagyan becomes SamyagGyan, SamyagDarshan is more Poojniya as compared to SamyagGyan.

What are the properties Samyagdarshan? (explained in Sutra 2)


Saturday, January 10, 2009

Summaries

THis blog will contain summaries of Swadhyaya (chapter 1 - 5) from Tatvarth Sutra from Swadhyaya Sessions held weekly at JCNC.

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Here is the sequence of writing summaries:
  • Dhyanesh Ji
  • Vishal Mehta Ji
  • Ridhhi Ji
  • Shubhangi Ji
  • Ashok Sethi Ji
  • Sahil Ji
  • Navin Jain Ji
  • Divya Sanghvi Ji
  • Rekha Sethi Ji
  • Ruchi Jain Ji
  • Pradeep Jain Ji
  • Atul Ji, Las Vegas wale