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90 : Śramaņa, Vol 60-61, No. 4, 17 Oct.-Dec. 09 - Jan.-March 10
internal austerities and Yoga as the activity of the mind, speech and body, has occurred repeatedly in Jaina canons.
This article is an attempt to present the Jaina concept of meditation in a historical perspective on the basis of Ardhamāgadhi Jaina canons, under the following heads:
1. Meaning of the terms 2. Its beginning and initiator 3. Qualification 4. Preparation 5. Types 6. Aims 7. Objects (ālambana) 8. Disposition of mind and conducive activities 9. Distractions 10. Posture 11. Place 12. Proper time 13. Consequences or fruits 14. Instances
15. Supernatural powers. Meaning of the Term
The term Yoga derived from root 'yuj' with suffix 'ghañ' has several connotations in canonical texts. Its first occurrence in Jaina canons is in the Ācārārga and in the sense of the activity of mind, speech and body.* In Ācārāngacūlā, it connotes union, contact, combination. It is the term Yoga occurred in Sūtrakstānga I, that may be treated as denoting the control of the vibratory activity of mind that is Yoga. In Uttarādhyayana also it is used in the same sense?. In Jñātādharmakathā, it gives the meaning of the acquisition of an acquired object. It is for the first time used in Praśnavyākarana in the sense of the art of fascination and in the
