Jaina View of Life

SR No.: 001622
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T G Kalghatgi
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 260
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Discourse
File Size: 14 MB

Page 168

20) The Pathway to Perfection
153
in souls which have achieved great spiritual advancement.67 But one is free from even the slightest passions in the eleventh Guņasthāna. of upasantamoha. Still the affections are not altogether eliminated. They are only suppressed through the pressure of moral effort. We are mostly free from the baneful influence of the Karma, except the deluding Karma (mohaniyakarman). This state is called chadmastha. It is also called vitarāga, as one is able to remain calm and undisturbed through the suppression of Karma. In the next stage, of upašānta-moha. there is annihilation of Karma and not mere suppression. And when all the passions and the four types of Ghati-karma are destroyed, one reaches the thirteenth stage of spiritual development, called sayoga-kevali. One is free from the bondage of Karma, yet is not free from activity and bodily existence as the ayuḥkarma is still to be exhausted. In this stage, we find omniscient beings like Tirthamkaras, Gaşadharas and the Sāmãnya Kevalins. They attain enlightenment, but still live in this world preaching the truth that they have seen. This stage can be compared to the state of Jivanmukta. The Vedantasära describes this state as that of the enlightened and liberated man who is yet alive in this physical world. Though he may appear to be active in this world, yet he is inactive, like the man who assists a magician in a magic show yet knows that all that is shown is illusory.58 Zimmer compares the attitude of the Kevalins in this stage to the function of a lamp "lighting the phenomenal expersonality solely for the maintenance of the body, not for the persuit of any gratification of sense or any goal.969
The final stage of self-realization is the stage of absolute perfection. All empirical adjuncts, like the bodily functions, are removed. The soul enters the third stage of sukla-dhyāna. This state lasts only for the period of time required to pronounce
57. Tatia (N): Studies in Jaina Philosophy, p. 27. 58. Vedāntasára 219. 59. Zimmer (H): Philosophies of India-Edt, Campbell, p. 446.