Stress Academy Presents:

Web Series – The Story of Stress

Part 1 – Understanding Stress

Episode 12 – Natural & Unnatural State of Knowledge and Beliefs

In the previous video, we concluded that all unpleasant or pleasant emotions in relation to the material world are unnatural states of the conduct attribute. These emotions are also known as Kashayas or Passions. The neutral state or passionless state (known as Veetaragata) is the natural mode of the conduct attribute. 

So far we have established that wrong knowledge and wrong beliefs cause stressful emotions. Remember the example of rope and snake? In that case fear was triggered due to situational wrong knowledge and belief. But, what if the snake was real? What beliefs and knowledge instill fear in that situation?

Let’s take a real life example from the Covid-19 pandemic. We all understand that following preventive guidelines decreases our chances of getting infected, but it does not eliminate them completely. Suppose you get tested for Covid-19, and the result comes positive. You immediately get fearful about all the potential complications related to infection. Next day, you get a call from the lab informing you that someone else’s sample got mistaken for yours and the report is incorrect. You were indeed not infected. Here, your test result was always negative, but it was a case of mistaken identity which led you to feel fearful. We can say that the fear was not  just due to the possibility of infection, but more importantly was related to your wrong knowledge and belief of “I am infected”. Your fear vanished the very moment when knowledge and belief turned into “I am not infected” which was always the correct knowledge and belief. But what if the report was correct and you were truly infected? You can surely take available supportive treatments and follow precautions. Maybe keeping a positive attitude and optimism can help you somewhat. But, how would you remain stress-free and positive despite the uncertainty about progress of your illness?

From the perspective of Jain philosophy, fear in this case arises out of the “mistaken real identity”. From a worldly interaction perspective, we identify ourselves through this body. However, our real identity is our consciousness that persists beyond this transient body. This body is made up of matter particles which go through transformations of color, texture, smell, taste and temperature etc. Our consciousness consists of attributes such as knowledge, belief, conduct, happiness and countless other attributes. Although bodily changes may be instrumental in functioning of our senses and the brain, those changes do not alter the fundamental nature of consciousness as a substance. When a gold bar is turned into ornaments and when ice transforms to water, the inherent nature or existence of matter particles does not change. Similarly, while our knowledge, beliefs and emotions change, the fundamental nature of consciousness does not change. It remains as is even when consciousness leaves one body and enters a new body. Diseases, injuries and external calamities affect the physical body, but the fundamental nature of the consciousness is not affected by them. Even while unwell, our consciousness retains “free will” to remain calm and fearless by cultivating right knowledge and right belief about our real identity. So, having knowledge and belief that your ultimate conscious existence survives and remains unaffected should help you correct the mistaken identity. This will then help alleviate fear by detaching yourself from intense attachment to the body. Your own real identity as consciousness is intrinsically safe and unhurt by its own inherent nature. Not only your consciousness is safe, but it is also capable of generating immense non-material joy and peace from within even during the most difficult circumstances. You can’t always control the circumstances around but you can very much control and change the knowledge and belief you possess. This would provide you an alternate perspective on how to remain worry free despite challenging external circumstances.

Now, let’s define non-situational wrong knowledge and wrong belief from the perspective of Jain philosophy. Ignorance, doubts or misleading knowledge about our real existence as consciousness is defined as “Wrong Knowledge of Self” (Mithya Gyan). Likewise, not having a firm conviction about our real and permanent existence as consciousness is defined as “Wrong belief of Self” (Mithya Darshan). These are unnatural states of knowledge and belief, because they primarily manifest within us due to our acceptance of incomplete, biased or wrong information. For example, most of us have been taught since birth that our identity is defined solely through our body. These unnatural states also manifest from the wrong conclusions that we may draw from our own thoughts or imaginations. Manifestation of such wrong associations and internal imaginations occur due to tainted perception of a person due to prejudices. We will discuss and analyze various types of wrong beliefs in future videos. 

We can acquire the “Right Belief” (Samyag Darshan) and “Right Knowledge” (Samyag Gyan) regarding consciousness when we establish the firm conviction about it through logical reasoning and self-observation. The person experiencing this state even momentarily would experience immense non-material intrinsic peace and bliss from within by confirming the true nature of consciousness. This is the natural state (Swabhav paryay) of knowledge and belief attributes of the consciousness. It is very critical to understand this concept to become stress-free in the true sense. The detailed process to achieve this state would be discussed in future videos.

Based on the discussion in this video, we can conclude that:

1. In addition to situational wrong knowledge and wrong beliefs, “wrong knowledge” and “wrong belief” related to our true existence as consciousness are the major causes of unnatural and stressful emotions. 
2. Understanding of natural states characterized by “Right Knowledge” and “Right Belief” regarding consciousness is essential for becoming stress-free.
3. “Right Belief” of consciousness can be acquired by deriving right conclusions about self through logical reasoning and self-observation.

Acharya Kundkund described the natural and unnatural states of wrong knowledge and wrong beliefs along with the process of obtaining right knowledge and belief in his most famous treatise “Samaysar ” in the 1st century CE based on Tirthankar Mahavir’s teachings.

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References:

1. Acharya Kundkund. Samaysar. India. ~100 C.E.

English translation and explanation by Vijay K. Jain, inspired by Acharya Vidyanand.  2012 C.E.

Available at: https://jainelibrary.org/book-detail/?srno=009847