Jaina Mysticism and Other Essays

SR No.: 006933
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kamalchand Sogani
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy
Publication Year: 2002
Total Pages: 166
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

Page 12

(2) Awakening of the self or Aviratasamyagdrsți Guņasthāna :
Spiritual awakening or conversion is the result of Granthibheda (cutting the knot of ignorance35). By virtue of cutting the knot, the Bhinnagranthi sees supreme verity and acquires unswerving conviction in the true self.36 This occurrence of Samyagdarśana (spiritual awakening) is consequent upon the instruction of those who have realised the divine within themselves or are on the path of divine realisation.37 Yogīndu points out that insight is attained by the Ātman, when, at an opportune time, delusion is destroyed. 38 It may be noted here that when there is Ardhapudgalaparāvartana Kāla, for the deliverance of the self, it prepares itself for three types of Karaņas (Bhāvas), namely, Adhaḥpravsttakarana, Apūrvakarana, and Anivsttikaraṇa, which guarantees for it spiritual awakening. 39 Each of these Karanas lasts for an Antarmuhūrta (less than forty eight minutes 40). Just after the process of Anivrttikarana the soul experiences the first dawn of enlightenment or spiritual awakening". It is by these Karaņas that Granthibhedha is effected. “Even as a person born blind can see the world as it is on the sudden acquisition of eyesight, so can a soul having experienced the vision the truth as it is. Even as a person suffering from long-drawn disease experiences extreme delight on the sudden disappearance of the disease, so does a soul eternally bound to the wheel of worldly existence feels spiritual joy and bliss on the sudden dawn of enlightenment. "42
This is to be borne in mind that the spiritual awakening is to be sharply distinguished from the moral and the intellectual conversion. Even if the man in the first Guņasthāna gets endowed with the capacity of intellectual and moral achievements, it cannot be said to have dispelled the spiritual darkness. The characters portrayed by Jaina ācārya of Dravya-lingi Muni and some of the Abhavyas who have attained to the fair height of intellectual knowledge and moral upliftment illustrate this sort of life without spiritual awakening43. Thus the flower of mysticism does not blossom by the water of mere morality and intellectuality, but requires spiritual manure along with it.
Jaina Mysticisin and other essays