Basic Principles Of Jainism

Author(s): Narayan Lal Kachhara
Publisher: Narayan Lal Kachhara

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stage where the operation of right faith is slightly clouded by wrong belief, as at the third stage. The four anantanubandhin passions are practically destroyed and are in partial subsidence. (iii) Ksayika samyaktva: This stage of right belief arises as a result of the destruction of the four kinds of anantanubandhin passions and the faith deluding Karmas. This is the best kind of right belief and the soul which acquires it must progress further.
In this stage, the soul has faith in the moksa-marga ie., one's spiritual career, culminating into liberation, complete freedom from Karma, but is not able to pursue it observing all the rules of discipline. It believes in the doctrines propounded by the Jaina scriptures but is sometimes affected by wrong instructions of ignorant teachers. Such a soul recovers from the wrong belief on understanding the satisfactory exposition of the tenets by right kind of teachers; if it does not, it slips into wrong beliefs.
In this stage, the person possesses the right belief but not the conduct in strict conformity with it. He has not bound himself by vows to abstain from indulgence in sense enjoyments (indriya samyama) and from hurting the living beings (prana-samyama). He is compassionate, calm, fearful of mundane existence (samvega) and truthful. He does not hurt anybody without provocation. He is able to control excessive passions of anger, pride, deceit and greed. He is prone to these passions in moderate degree, but he has faith in the right doctrines.
5) Desa - virata (Partial vows)
A person in this stage is able to exercise greater degree of self-control than the one in the previous stage. This stage is called the stage of partial-vow because due to the operation of vowpreventing-passions (pratyakhyanavarana kashaya), there is the absence of perfect control. There is partial destruction and partial subsidence of the Karmas binding the soul due to passions. Here, there is the operation (udaya) of that kind of karmic matter which forms such passions as prevent the vows only partially. The person in this stage has the necessary spiritual disposition and exerts for further development. He observes the rules of Right Conduct only partially due to lack of complete control. This is a stage where, apart from the spiritual progress, emphasis is laid on conduct, that is, observing those rules which are enjoined by the scriptures. It is here that the eleven Pratimas get included.
Since he is right believer, he will control his passions and not commit unnecessary sins. He will not kill the mobile beings. He would not also unnecessarily kill the immobile beings. Since he is wholly devoted to the Jina, he is both vowful and vowless (virata-avirata). This is so because if he kills the mobile beings, he would be a person without faith in the teachings of Jina.
6) Parmatta- virata
In this stage, the person has right faith and exerts to follow all the rules of conduct. Even though the thought activity is one of destruction and subsidence of almost all the karmic matter, yet the observance of the vows in a perfect manner is prevented due to the operation of the little
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