English Writings

Essay · निबंध

Parasparopagraho Jīvānām

"Soul renders service to soul"

Tattvārthasūtra, 5.21

The principle of parasparopagraho jīvānām, the mutual support of living beings, is beginningless. From the most minute forms of existence, such as nigoda, where countless beings coexist within a single body, to higher states of embodiment, all living beings remain interconnected through the unfolding of karma.

Whenever a being experiences sātā (pleasure), asātā (pain), or any other karmic fruition, instrumental causes (nimitta) are inevitably involved. The five samavāyas, the invariable causes, are present in every action. In this way, beings have, since eternity, served as instruments in one another's experiences, undergoing the results of past karma while simultaneously binding new karma.

When a being turns inward through vairāgya and allied virtues, attaining ātmasanmukhatā, there arises the direct experience of the Self, ātmānubhūti. This bliss of self-realisation is the highest goal. From such realisation naturally flows karuṇā, a deep compassion for all living beings, along with the aspiration to guide others towards the same state. Such guidance is the highest form of service.

We therefore revere the enlightened ones, who have revealed this supreme path.

Yet, the service spoken of here pertains only to the role of the nimitta. The true relation between the kartā (doer) and karma resides within the same dravya (substance), governed by the upādāna (material cause). It is the upādāna that transforms into the effect, not the nimitta.

— Jayesh Mohanlal Sheth