Anandrushi Abhinandan Granth

Author(s): Vijaymuni Shastri, Devendramuni
Publisher: Maharashtra Sthanakwasi Jain Sangh Puna

Page 781

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Dr. Bashishtha Narain Tripathi
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that there are some primary defects of the mind which are to be removed before practising the yogic processes. He enumerates them as eight viz., inertia (kheda), anxiety (udvega), unsteadiness (kşepa), distraction (utthāna), lapse of memory (bharānti), attraction for something else (anyamud), mental disturbance (ruk), and attachment (asanga).38 The mind of a yogin should always be free from these defects. He then asks the enquirers to keep thin minds open and investigate the truth with perfect detachment and freedom from prejudices. He suggests eight virtues thus : freedom from prejudice (adveșa), inquisitiveness (jijñāsā), love for listening (suśrusa), attentive hearing (śravana), comprehension (bodha), critical valuation (mimāṁsā), clear conviction (parisuddhāpratipatti), and earnest practice (pravstti) for self-realisation.39 Furthermore, Haribhadra lays down these five steps as a complete course of Yoga : adhyātma or contemplation of truth accompanied by moral conduct, bhāvanā or repeated practice in the contemplation accompanied by the steadfastness of the mind, dhyānā or concentration of the mind, samatā or equainimity, and vịttisarkşaya or the annihilation of all the traces of karman.40 Haribhadra, in his famous work entitled yogaděştisamuccaya, distinguishes eight stages of Yogic development. The soul undergoes gradual purification and along with the purification its drști (love of truth) becomes progressively steady and reaches consummation in the realisation of the truth. These stages are mitrā, tārā, balā, diprā, sthira, käntä, prabhā, and parä.41
Prof. Radhakrishnan observes that the ethical system of the Jainas is more rigorous than that of the Buddhists. It looks upon patience as the highest good and pleasure as a source of sin.43 Man should attempt to be indifferent to pleasure and pain. True freedom consists in an independence of all outer things. “That jīva, which through desire for outer things experiences pleasurable or painful states, loses his hold on self and gets bewildered, and led by outer things. He becomes determined by the other."1 "That jiva, which being free from relations to others and from alien thoughts through its own intrinsic nature of perception and understanding perceives and knows its own eternal nature to be such, is said to have conduct that is absolutely self determined."'45 “Man ! Thou art thine own friend; why wishest thou for a friend beyond thyself ?!?46 We do not have absolute fatalism, for though karma decides all, our present life, which is in our power, can modify the effects of the past. It is possible for us to evade the effects of karma by extraordinary exertions. Nor is there any interference by God. The austere heroes are blessed not because of the uncertain whims of a capricious God, but by the order of the universe of which they themselves are a part. While Buddhism repudiates suicide, Jainism holds that it "increaseth life." If asceticism is hard to practise, if we cannot resist our passions and endure austerities, suicide is permitted. It is sometimes argued that after twelve years of ascetic preparation one can kill himself, since nirvāṇa is assured. As usual with the systems of the time, women are looked upon as objects of temptation"? In common with other systems of Indian thought and belief, Jainism believes in the possibility of non-Jainas reaching the goal if only they follow the ethical rules laid down. Ratnasekhara in the