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## Translation:
11
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One has to experience the stages. The first stage should be understood as the culmination of involution or degeneration, and the final stage should be understood as the culmination of evolution or liberation. All the intermediate stages of this evolution-involution can be called both higher and lower in comparison. That is, any intermediate stage can be called lower than the stage above it and higher than the stage below it. The soul progressing towards evolution actually traverses such countless spiritual stages. But Jain scriptures have classified them in brief into fourteen divisions, which are called "Chaudah Gunasthanas".
Of all the coverings, the covering of attachment (moha) is the primary. That is, as long as attachment is strong and intense, other coverings remain strong and intense. Conversely, as attachment weakens, other coverings also weaken in the same way. Therefore, in the development of the soul, the strength of attachment should be understood as the main obstacle and the weakening of attachment should be understood as the main help. For this reason, the concept of the stages of evolution in Gunasthanas is based on the intensity, weakness, and absence of the power of attachment.
There are two main powers of attachment. The first power does not allow the soul to have darshan, i.e., to decide its own nature, form, or the division or discrimination between inert and conscious. And the second power does not allow the soul to gain liberation even after acquiring it, and accordingly, it does not allow it to be free from practice or its consequences. It is said that when one truly understands the nature of an object, one tries to obtain or abandon it, and one succeeds. For the soul progressing towards spiritual development, the main thing is the same...