Dharam Shiksha - Class 28

Jai Jinendra everyone!

First of all, a big thank you to all the kids and the Parents who are continuously striving to make these Dharam Classes a success. Without your keen and eager participation, we wouldn't be able to spread the pearls of wisdom that our great Tirthankars, Kewalis and Gurus have blessed us with.

Going forward, we hope to see even more participation from the children - dear Parents, please take note of that 😊

So this week, we continued with the topic - Mithyatva... because honestly, this subject is too vast to be covered in a single class.

We already familiarized the kids with the meaning of Mithyatva in the last class. This time, we discussed the 10 different types of Mithyatva.

Ten Types of Mithyatva:

We already know that Mithyatva means having wrong beliefs or incomplete understanding of the truth.

Any person who does not have faith in the right Dev, Guru and Dharam is a Mithyatvi.

Now let us talk about the 10 different types of Mithyatva.

1 &2: Considering Jeev as Ajeev and Ajeev as Jeev:

In our religion, the only thing that makes a Jeev (living being) different from Ajeev (non-living) is "Chetna", which means awareness or the ability to feel and know.

This means:

• Soul = Jeev (it has awareness)

• Body = Ajeev (it is just matter)

Even very tiny beings that we cannot see are also Jeev because they have awareness.

Now sometimes people get confused:

• Thinking Jeev is Ajeev (living as non-living): Some people think water, plants or tiny germs are non-living. This is mithyatva.

• Thinking Ajeev is Jeev (non-living as living): Some people believe the body and the soul are the same. They think when body dies, the soul dies with it too. Likewise, some people consider a statue of God as God Himself. This is again mithyatva.

3&4: Considering Dharam as Adharam and Adharam as Dharam:

In Jainism, the first two kinds of Mithyatva happen when a person mixes up Dharam and Adharam.

Dharam means doing things that make the soul pure and help it move towards Moksha — like tapasya (vrat, ayambil, ekasana), self-control etc.

• If someone says, “Fasting is just torturing oneself. It is useless, it is not dharam,” they are misunderstanding the truth.

• On the other hand, if someone thinks practices like sacrificing animals is dharam, that is also a wrong belief.

People with these kinds of false beliefs are called Mithyatvi.Considering Jeev as Ajeev and Ajeev as Jeev:

5&6: Considering Sadhu as Asadhu and Asadhu as Sadhu:

In Jainism, a sadhu is someone who has given up worldly pleasures to focus on the path to Moksha. A sadhu lives in strict discipline and follows all the rules that Bhagwan Mahavir Swami framed for people who wanted to take Deeksha.

Now, there can be two types of Mithyatva here:

• Calling a real Sadhu “Asadhu”: If someone says a true Sadhu who follows all the rules is not good or not real, that is wrong thinking.

• Following a fake Sadhu as a Guru: If someone follows a person who only pretends to be a Sadhu but does not follow the rules properly, that is also Mithyatva.

7&8: Considering "Moksha" Marg as "Sansar" Marg and "Sansar" Marg as "Moksha" Marg:

We have already discussed in our previous classes that there are 4 path to Moksha - Samyak Gyaan (right knowledge), Samyak Darshan (right faith), Samyak Charitra (right conduct) and Samyak Tap (right self-control).

In simple words, believing right, knowing right, acting right, and practicing self-control — these 4 steps help the soul attain Moksha.

Anyone who does not believe this to be true is a Mithyatvi.

Alternatively, if someone believes doing anything else other than these four pure deeds can lead them to Moksha, they are Mithyatvi too.

9&10: Considering Mukt as Amukt and Amukt as Mukt:

First, let us understand what Mukt and Amukt means. The kids already know about the 8 types of karmas. A soul that has shed ALL these karmas and attained "Siddha" Gati is considered "Mukt". All other souls are "Amukt".

But people in Mithyatva consider Mukt souls as Amukt and Amukt souls as Mukt.

STORY TIME: How Keshi Swami Ji Busted King Pradeshi's Mithyatva

In the ancient land of Shvetambika lived a king named Pradeshi. But he was not a good king in thinking — he was a mithyatvi.

He did not believe in the existence soul, Heaven or Hell. He drank alcohol, ate meat and collected very heavy taxes from his people.

Luckily, his minister Chittasarthi was the opposite — kind, wise and a devoted follower of Jainism.

The Meeting in Shravasti

One day Chittasarthi visited the nearby city of Shravasti. There he met the great Keshi Swami Ji, a "gandhar" of Bhagwan Parshwanath.

After listening to his teachings, Chittasarthi was deeply inspired. He accepted the 12 Shravak vows and requested: “Please come to my city Shvetambika and deliver your words of wisdom there too.”

Keshi Swami Ji gently refused: “Your king does not believe in dharam. What will I do there?"

But Chittasarthi kept requesting: "Even if the king does not believe, the people do.”

Keshi Swami Ji goes to Shvetambika

Finally, one day Keshi Swami Ji decided to go to Shvetambika. Chittasarthi got very happy and arranged for his stay at the beautiful "Mrig" gardens on the city's outskirts.

Chittasarthi then requested Keshi Swami Ji to deliver sermon to King Pradeshi too so that he could understand what true dharam is.

But Keshi Swami Ji said: "Your king considers sadhu as asadhu, he thinks soul and body are the same, he doesn't know the difference between dharam and adharam, how will he even understand what I'm saying? A true shravak bows to saints, speaks politely, and offers gochari — your king does none of this.”

But Chittasarthi really wanted his king to change.

The King Arrives

So one day he cleverly brought King Pradeshi near the Mrig garden. When the King's carriage stopped in front of the huge gardens and he saw what was happening, the first thought that came to his mind was:

"Who is this foolish person giving a lecture? Who are these fools who are actually listening to him? And why are these people occupying such a large area in MY gardens?"

Meanwhile, unaware of his thoughts, Chittasarthi told King Pradeshi that his guru - avadhi gyaani Keshi Swami Ji - was present in the gardens giving dharam gyaan to the locals.

He said, "My guru says the soul and body are different.”

The king became curious: "Really? Let’s hear this.”

The Mind-Reading Sadhu

As soon as he met Keshi Swami Ji, the king asked: “Do you really think the soul is different from the body?”

Keshi Swami Ji smiled: “O king, you have asked your question without bowing first which shows your arrogance. I already know you think I, and the people present here are fools, and that we are wasting your garden's space."

The king was shocked: “How did you know my thoughts?!”

Keshi Swami replied: “I possess four types of gyaan — mati, shrut, avadhi and manah-paryav. Our Arihants and Siddhas possess Keval Gyaan - the ultimate knowledge."

Now the king became serious.

He asked: "Do you really believe that soul and body are separate?"

Keshi Swami Ji replied: "Yes, they are."

Questions About Hell

King Pradeshi asked again: "Okay then how do you explain this? My grandfather was just like me - he didn't do any dharma, he ate meat, drank alcohol. So according to your karma theory, he must be in narak, right? But he also loved me dearly. If he really is in narak, why didn't he come to warn me to stop these bad deeds or I'd also end up like him?"

Keshi Swami smiled and then asked: “If you caught a man with your wife, what would you do?"

The King replied angrily: "I would kill him on the spot!"

Keshi Swami Ji: "But what if the man tells you to wait while he can go and tell everybody that what he did was wrong? Would you let him go?"

King Pradeshi: "Of course not. I'd kill him right away."

Keshi Swami Ji: “That is how narak works. Souls there suffer continuously and cannot leave even for a moment. That is why he could not come.”

Questions About Heaven

The King then asked: “My grandmother was religious. She followed dharam - did samayik and tapasya. But she also loved me a lot. If she is in Devlok right now, why didn't she come back and tell me to start doing good deeds so I can go to Dev Lok too?"

Keshi Swami Ji replied: “O King, let's imagine that you've taken a fragrant bath and have dressed up in royal clothes. Now if someone asks you to sit in the toilet instead of the Royal court, would you do that?"

King scrunched his nose.

"Of course not! Why would I sit in the toilet after getting all dressed up?"

Keshi Ji said: "That's exactly why your grandma's soul didn't return, O King. In Devlok, the environment is so grand and pure that once a soul reaches there, it gets so busy in enjoying all the luxuries that it just does not want to go back to manushya lok. For Devs, maushya lok is full of stench and garbage."

The Sealed Box Question

Then King then said: "Okay, I get what you're saying. But can you explain this - one time, a thief was brought to my court. I ordered that he should be put in a metal box with no doors or windows - not even the tiniest space from where air could go inside. When the box was opened a few days later, the thief had died. Now since there was no opening in the box whatsoever, how did the soul reach its next destination?"

Keshi Swami Ji replied: "If someone is put inside a completely sealed room and he starts playing drums inside, will the noise reach outside?"

King nodded his head.

Keshi Swami Ji continued: "Just like you can't see the sound but feel it's presence, the same is the case with our soul."

The King Changes

In this way, the king kept asking questions, and Keshi Swami Ji patiently cleared every doubt.

At last,  when all his doubts got cleared, King Pradeshi's mithyatva got finally eliminated and he became a samyaktvi by accepting shravak's 12 vrats from Keshi Swami Ji!

That's all for this time, dear children! See you all again in the next Dharam Class :)