$JES 904 Compendium of Jainism (Jain Academic Bowl Manual 3rd Edition)

Author(s): JAINA Education Committee
Publisher: JAINA Education Committee

Page 33

PHILOSOPHY
B02 - Jain Path of Liberation - Ratna Trayi
Right faith and right knowledge are required for right conduct, and all are interdependent. Jains dedicate themselves to proper conduct through vows and sub vows. Vows are at the heart of Jain morality and are undertaken with a full knowledge of their nature and a determination to carry them through.
Understanding of Samyag Darshan, Samyag Jnän, and Samyag Chäritra itself is not good enough to take us anywhere but we would have to apply them in real practice to their fullest to get the actual results. It should also be remembered that we would have to follow all three simultaneously.
This threefold discipline helps us realize our own intrinsic purity. The trinity must be cultivated collectively to ensure liberation. Individually, they are incomplete and insufficient because they are mutually dependent. Collectively, the three jewels produce harmony, contentment, and bliss with the progressive march of the soul to higher planes.
Various spiritual stages exist in practicing the Right Conduct. Householders follow initial stages and ascetics follow advanced stages and ultimately attain liberation.
In the beginning, every living being is at the spiritual stage known as Mithyätva (1st stage of Gunasthänak). On the path of spiritual progress a person after acquiring proper knowledge of soul, matter and karma, destroys Faith Deluding (Darshan Mohaniya) karma first and attains Right Conviction or Faith. At that moment, his acquired knowledge is known as Right Knowledge because he has developed the unshakeable trust in his knowledge. This does not mean that he acquires all knowledge. This stage is known as the attainment of Samyaktva (4th stage of Gunasthänak).
The person then gradually destroys Conduct Deluding karma (Chäritra Mohaniya karma) through the progressive manifestations of the soul's innate faculties of Right Conduct.
First, one adopts the twelve vows of conduct of laypeople for self-control (5th stage of Gunasthänak) and then, gradually progresses towards the renunciation of worldly life and becomes an ascetic (6th and 7th stage). As an ascetic, one follows the five great vows and is slowly able to remove passions such as anger, ego, deceit, and greed from his nature.
At the perfection of Right Conduct, he destroys all Conduct Deluding karma (Chäritra Mohaniya karma) and becomes completely free from passions. This is known as an attainment of Vitaräga state or state of no passions (12th stage of Gunasthänak).
Once all Mohaniya karma (faith and conduct deluding karma) are exhausted, the remaining three Ghäti karmas - Jnänävaraniya Karma, Darshanävaraniya Karma, and Antaräya Karma are destroyed naturally and automatically within 48 minutes and without any further effort. This is known as attainment of a Keval-Jnän state (13th stage of Gunasthänak known as Sayogi-kevali).
This is how a person destroys all four Ghäti karma and attains:
Quality Revealed
Karma Destroyed Mohaniya Karma
Anant-sukha or infinite happiness/joy
Jnänävaraniya Karma Darshanavaraniya Karmal Antaraya Karma
Keval-jnän (Omniscience) or infinite knowledge Keval-darshan (Omni perception) or infinite perception Anant-virya or infinite power and energy
After the destruction of all Ghäti Karma, a Kevali or Arihant continues to live a human life as an ascetic and delivers sermons at various places. This way his activities of body, speech, and mind are used to spread the message of non-violence, compassion, non-possessiveness, and pluralism view.
Compendium of Jainism - 2015
Page 33 of 398