ĀTMĀNUŚĀSANA – PRECEPT ON THE SOUL by Ācārya GUṆABHADRA (ca. 818–900 A.D.) [267]
Gātha 266
The soul, from the point-of-view of the substance – dravyārthika naya – is eternal, free from birth and death. From the point-of-view of its pure own-nature (svabhāva), it is incorporeal and does not have the qualities of colour, taste, smell and touch. From the empirical (vyavahāra) point-of-view, it is the doer of auspicious (śubha) and inauspicious (aśubha) karmas, but from the (impure) transcendental point-of-view (aśuddha niścaya naya) it is the doer of its psychic dispositions. From the empirical (vyavahāra) point-of-view, it is the enjoyer of happiness (sukha) or misery (duḥkha) as the fruits of its previously bound karmas, but from the real, transcendental point-of-view (niścaya naya) it enjoys infinite bliss. Happiness and knowledge are its own-nature (svabhāva). Empirically, it is of the size of the body, small or big. But, from the real point-of-view, it has innumerable space-points (pradeśa), equal to the universe-space (lokākāśa). When rid of all karmic dirt, it naturally moves upward till the top of the universe, and remains steady forever atop the ‘Siddha śilā’.
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