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The Doctrines of the Jainas
aspirant to make a definite start. It rises and subsides like a bubble. Only in a few cases it is so strong as to bring about a decisive turn. In the first case the urge can occur innumerable times without having a permanent effect. The death of a beloved person, the destruction of a thing greatly desired or another such occurrence generally produces this type of attitude temporarily.
If the urge to self-purification is sufficiently strong, the soul advances to the stage of Apurva Karana. The Karmic stock is further reduced in this stage and the soul takes a decisive step, the most important in an aspirant's career. It is known as Apurva as it was never achieved before. The aspirant in this stage reaches the point of breaking the tie of perversion.
The third step is Anivrttikarana, reached on breaking this tie. The aspirant attains it after subduing the five types of Mohaniya, i.e., Mithyatva Mohaniya and the Anantanubandhi degree of four passions and thus reaches the fourth Gunasthana. It is known as Anivrtti because the aspirant, having once attained it, is never lost. By taking this step the soul limits its wanderings. It comes to the path of light from that of darkness.
The second Gunasthana is known as Sasvadana. It is not attained in the ascending order but only when the soul falls from a higher stage and has not yet touched the ground.
The third Gunasthana is known as Misra; it represents the stage of mixed attitude. It is caused by the rise of Misra Mohaniya. The aspirant in this stage is not firm in his convictions and wavers between right and wrong. This
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