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4. Illumination : (a) Apramattavirata Guņasthāna (Seventh) (b) Apūrvakaraņa Guņasthāna (Eighth) (c) Anivsttikaraṇa Guņasthāna (Ninth) (d) Sukṣmasāmparāya Guņasthāna (Tenth) ; (e) Upaśāntakaṣāya Guņasthāna (Eleventh) (f) Kșīņakaṣāya Guñasthāna (Twelfth).
These Guņasthāna from the seventh to the twelth are the meditational stags or the stages of illumination and ecstasy. By the time the aspirant reaches the seventh Guņasthāna, he has developed a power of spiritual attention, of self-merging and of gazing into the ground of the soul. It is through the aid to deep meditation that the mystic now pursues the higher path. In consequence, he arrives at the eighth and the ninth stage. In the tenth Gunasthāna there is only subtle greed that can disturb the soul. The soul suppresses even this subtle greed in the eleventh Guņasthāna. If the self follows the process of annihilation instead of suppression it rises directly from the tenth to the twelth Guņasthāna.
5. Dark-period of the soul post-illumination : Fall to the first or the fourth Guņasthāna
Owing to the suppressed passions gaining strength, the illuminated consciousness of the eleventh Guņasthāna falls to the lowest stage or to the fourth stage. The consequence is that the ecstatic awareness of the transcendental self gets negated and an overwhelming sense of darkness envelops the mystic.
Spiritual Awakening (Samyagdarśana) and Other Essays
Jain Education International
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