________________
THE WAY OF INNER DEVELOPMENT
65
and Paramātman. The soul in first category is extravagant and seeks happiness in external objects, takes external objects as his own self and thus goes astray from its own nature. In the second category it is introvert and tries to realize its own nature. The third category represents the stage of perfect realization. An aspirant is advised to abandon the first and try to attain the third through means of the second. The first Gunasthana shows the state of Bahiratman, two to twelve that of Antaratman and the last two that of Paramātman.
The states of soul are judged through lesyas-thought points also. They are six in number and symbolise the thoughts according to the intensity of violence. The first lesya is kṛṣṇa (black) symbolizing the thoughts of most crual nature. Then, there are nila (blue), kāpot (light blue like the colour of a pegeon), Tejas (firy), Padma (lotus colour) and Sūkla (white). The thoughts of a person with Sukla lesya are of the purest nature. The lesyas numbering two to five symbolize the intermediate stages.
The yoga system divides the flow of mental activity into Sansāra prāgbhara and Kaivalya prāgbhara, showing the bent of mind towards the pleasures of world and the spiritual realization respectively. They are just like the states of Bahiratman and Antarātman as shown above.
The Buddhist holds five states of pṛthagjana, srotāpanna sakadagamin, anāgamin and arhat. The first state contains the idea of bahiratman, the next three of antaratman and the last one of paramatman.
The Jaina literature on karman and gunasthana
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
Jain Education International
