SHASTRAS WORTH READING & LISTENING

Only those Shastras, which illuminate the right path of liberation, are worth reading and listening. In this world all living beings are suffering from innumerable kinds of miseries; if through the lamp (light) of Shastras, they attain the right path of liberation, then by treading on that path they themselves can be free from those miseries. And that liberation-path is nothing but a passionless disposition. It is, therefore, desirable to read and listen to only those Shastras in which the sole purpose of passionlessness has been discoursed by judiciously contradicting delusion, attachment, aversion, etc. And all those Shastras wherein the purpose of cultivating attachment feeling by cherishing voluptuousness, merriment, etc., aversion feeling by fostering violent activities, wars etc. and the perverted belief by nourishing the faith in false elements has been advocated are not the Shastras but "weapons". Because attachment, aversion, etc. fallacious feelings on account of which the Jiva has suffered from miseries from eternity, the tendency of those instincts and feelings was already existing in him even without imparting any training and if through these Shastras the same instincts and feelings are fostered, then what has been preached for the well being of Jiva on the contrary it may amount to destruction of the very nature of the soul. Therefore, reading of and listening to such Shastras is not desirable.

As has been stated about reading and listening, similarly, one should know about composition, learning, teaching, thinking, writing, etc., by inference.

Thus only those Shastras which promote growth of passionlessness either directly or traditionally are only worth studying.