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Q. What is the difference between Paramesthi and other Jivas?
A. The difference lies in the presence or absence of spiritual development. Those who have attained to spiritual development and have acquired scathe less prowess of the soul are Paramesthi. The Jivas, tardy in their prowess of the soul, are different from them.
Q. Can these others purify themselves and become Paramesthi?
A. Sure.
Q. What is then the difference between the two from the point of view of prowess?
A. None. The difference lies actually in the revelation or otherwise of the prowesses. In one, the perfectly pure form of the prowesses of the soul has revealed itself, and not so in the second.
Q. Are all Paramesthi of just one type? What is the difference between the one and the other?
A. No, they are not just one type. From the gross point of view, they are of five types - Arihanta, Siddha, Acharya, Upadhyaya and Sadhu. These should first be divided into two in order to know their difference. The first consists of the first two, and the second of the last three. This is because the first two-Arihanta and Siddha have developed themselves fully in the matter of knowledge, perception, conduct and prowess. In the last three, Acharya etc., these prowesses have not fully shined out; they are in process to reveal these fully. Only Arihanta and Siddha have attained to the state of the venerated; they have no state of worshipper, they are therefore endowed with the divine element. The other three, Acharya etc. have two states of worshipped and worshipper both, they are worshipped by those at the lower stages and they worship those of the higher stage. The element of higher and lower is thus accepted.
Q. What is the difference between the Arihanta and Siddha?
A. Siddhas have no body and therefore are devoid of material modifications. The Arihantas are not so, they have a body, and therefore, moving, roaming, speaking, thinking and other physical and mental activities continue in their case. This is so in spite of the fact that in their case also infatuation, illusion, ignorance etc., have come to an end. In brief, we can say that the perfection of development of the prowesses of knowledge, conduct, etc., is similar in the two cases. Yet the Siddha is devoid of yoga, i.e., the activities of mind, speech and body, the Arihanta is not so. First, one becomes an Arihanta, to become a Siddha later on after abandoning the body.
Similar is the case with the other three, Acharya, Upadhyaya and Sadhu. Even though the virtues of all the three are more or less the same, there are some traits associated with each. One has to cultivate and acquire the traits, the genuine knowledge of the scriptures and their meaning, ability to teach, sweetness of speech, and their meaning, ability to teach, and the power to discuss matters in order to attain the status of an Upadhyaya, while for the Sadhu these traits are not particularly necessary. In a similar way, the status of an Acharya means the acquirement of the
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