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( 187 ) 103 Q.-How far is dharma effective in perfectly
purifying human being ?
A.-Dharma has a very great effect in this
respect in as much as it is dharma which can make a human being attain Iskvar. pad. No stage is higher or purer than this.
104 Q.-How can one who has gone astray from
the dharma be purified ? A.-The blessed Arhat, who is free from 18
defacts, in order to purify the fallen persons has explained theshastras, as, Sraddha jît-Kalpa, Yatijit-kapla, Nishith, Kalpa, Vayavhâra. The aforesaid books describe 10 kinds of prayashchitta (penances) for purifying fallen persons. The nature of purification takes with the nature of transgression in each particular case. The purificartory rites prescribed for a householder are different from those for the sâdhus. One who takes the prescribed penance and then acts upon it, becomes purified like a clothing from which a blot is removed.
