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COMPENDIUM OF JAINISM
at the summit of the universe, having been fully liberated. The abode is called Siddhasilā; there the fully liberated souls live in purity and peace.
Now it may be of interest to general reader to recapitulate the logical manner in which the spiritual development or evolution takes place from the state of ignorance to that of perfection. In this vast universe, there are infinite number of souls some of which are invisible to our senses. Roughly speaking, the souls may be divided for our present purpose into two classes : bhavya in whom there is an awakening to its potential qualities and abhavya in whom there is no such awakening. The arrangement of the Guņasthānas is not artificial but scientific. The principal cause of liberation is the subjugation of the activities of the body, mind and speech accompanied by internal tapas.
Naturally the journey of evolution starts from the stage of ignorance and wrong belief. This is the first stage where the individual is possessed of perverted and superstitious beliefs. He is blind to the truth that the soul is defferent from the body and considers that his bodily pleasures and material acquisitions are the end and aim of life. The second stage is not really one of development. It is the halting place for souls which have slipped down from the higher stage on account of Karmas or there is a slight indistinct awareness of right belief in a soul otherwise in a state of wrong belief. The third stage is one of wavering between right belief and wrong belief. The mind gets glimpses of right faith but does not cling to it long. The individual oscillates in a state of wrong-cum-right belief. The fourth stage 'is one where the individual has acquired the right faith. This is undoubtedly a stage of development as the individual would be becoming conscious of right knowledge and right conduct. He has not developed self-control as there has been neither subsidence nor disassociation nor annihilation of the passions and vision-deluding Karmas. The first four stages are thus concerned with the development of the individual from that of a wrong--believer to that of a right believer, though without self-control. .
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