SAIVA-SIDDHANTA

TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.
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impelled or attracted by any thing which will give him plea
sure, he will not be deterred simply because it will cause him
pain. Such objects of desire in the world are wealth, health
and gratification, and we hate all those acts which will produce
the opposite results. To such a person, wealth and poverty*
food and poison, praise and blame, will be equally welcome, and
one looks on all these as one looks on dust or chaff, without desire
or aversion. It is when a man attains to this condition of
G&iej*!&&i GeueasrL-ffen-j) or g^aflSsw QiLtruLj, that he is led in pursuit
of the highest Ideals, to do the greatest acts of heroism, and
the most magnanimous acts of self-sacrifice, and suffer the
greatest martyrdom. The story of the churning of the Ocean
is full of this meaning. The gods who were pained at their
poverty, and desired wealth, came to reap the fire of the poison,
which arose as a result of their own self-seeking, and the
Supreme Being who appeared there, not for the sake of any
reward, but for the sole purpose of saving the distressed gods,
was not affected by the Poison which he swallowed.
So that when God willed to create this earth and the
heavens, it was not the result of a mere whim or play,
it was
not for his own improvement or benefit, it was not for his selfglorification
or self-realization, but he willed out of his Infinite
Love and Mercy towards the innumerable souls, who were
rotting in their bondage, enshrouded in Anava mala, without
self knowledge and self-action, that they be awakened cut of
their kfcvala (<*&&&))
condition and move into the cycle or evolu
tion, (^sso), births and deaths, whereby alone they
can effect
their salvation. One helped on to this, by being given bodies,
faculties c., out of matter, they begin to do, accumulate
karma, which has to be eaten fully before the j^aSawrGL/ruL/,
the indifference to pain and pleasure, can be gained. In the
process of eating the bitter fruits and gaining $-/ (balance),
one gathers experience and wisdom and the knowledge of
Truth^ And unless this Truth be gained, the soul s salvation
is a mere myth and nothing more.
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