Mahavira and his Teaching

SR No.: 008019
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: C C Shah, Rishabhdas Ranka, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Bhagwan Mahavir 2500th Nirvan Mahotsava Samiti
Publication Year: 1977
Total Pages: 509
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Biography, Religion, & Principle
File Size: 12 MB

Page 137

130
KAMAL CHAND SOGANI
the time the aspirant reaches the seventh Gunasthana, 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 of deep meditation that the mystic now pursues the higher path. In consequence, he arrives at the eighth and the ninth stages known as the Apūrvakarana and the Anivșttıkarana Gunasthana, where exists the state of profound purity. In the tenth Gunasthāna known as Suksma-Samparāya there is only subtle greed that can disturb the soul.2 The soul suppresses even this subtle greed in the eleventh Gunasthāna known as Upaśānta Kaşā ya and thus absolves itself from the rise of all types of passions. If the self follows the process of annihilation instead of suppression it rises directly from the tenth to the twelfth Gunasthāna known as Kșinakasā ya Gunasthāna.4 Here the conduct deluding Karma is destroyed instead of being suppressed. Pujyapāda rightly observes that meditation produces supreme ecstacy in a mystic who is firmly established in the self. Such an ecstatic consciousness is potent enough to burn the Karmic fuel: and then the person remains unaffected by external troubles and never experiences discomposure.5
(5) Dark night of the soul post illumination:
Owing to the suppressed passions gaining strength, the illuminated consciousness of the eleventh Gunasthāna falls to the lowest stage of Mithyātva or to the fourth stage of Aviratasamyagdışți Gunasthana. The consequence is that the ecstatic awareness of the transcendental self gets negated and an overwhelming sense of darkness envelops the mystic. It may be noted that not all mystics experience this dark night. Those of them who ascend the ladder of annihilation escape this tragic period, whereas those who ascend the ladder of suppression succumb to its dangers and pains. Mystics of the latter type no doubt will also reach the 1. Gommațasara Jivakända, 50, 57.
Ibid. 60 3. Ibid. 61 4. Ibid. 62 5. Istopadeśa of Pūjyapāda, 47, 48 (Rāyacandra)