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CHAPTER IX.
STAGES ON THE PATH. From the nature of moksha and the means prescribed for its realization it is abundantly clear that the attainment of perfection is the culmination of a graduated course of training which must be followed step by step. The sages have, therefore, divided the path which leads to the Supreme Seat (nirvana) into fourteen stages, each of which represents a particular state of development, condition or phase of the soul, arising from the quiescence, elimination, or partial quiescence and partial elimination of certain energies of karma, and the manifestation of those traits and attributes which are held in check by their activity. The names and characteristics of each of these fourteen stages, called guṇasthanas, may be stated as follows :
(1) The first stage is called mithyátva which signifies ignorance, the normal condition of all jivas involved in the samsāra, and is the starting point of spiritual evolution. The consciousness of the soul in this condition is obsessed with gross ignorance, and pure truth is not agreeable to it. Those who pass out of it are the lucky ones who, in consequence of their past good karmas, evolve out the desire to find a way to escape from the pain and misery of life in this world. When a man reaches this turning point in his life, he begins to
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