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ETHICS FOR ASCETICS
doctrines, censure of others and pleasures of senses. These two are inauspicious (aprasyasta) kinds of meditations; 3) dharmadhyāna implies reflection and meditation on the means of annihilating the karmas and getting release from worldly miseries and sufferings. To meditate upon the self by subduing all other thoughts is Dharma-Dhyana; 4) śukla-dhyana is the best kind of meditation. All inauspicious thoughts and desires are eliminated and there is annihilation of the passions that defile the soul. It is by practice of this pure kind of meditation that the soul becomes liberated. There are four kinds of Sukla-Dhyana. In the last kind, the Omniscient, after establishing himself in gross bodily activity, makes the activities of the mind and speech subtle. Then after renouncing the bodily activity, he fixes himself in the activities of the mind and speech and makes the gross bodily activity subtle. Afterwards, the mental and vocal activities are stopped and subtle activity of the body is left. In the last type of SuklaDhyana, even the subtle activity of the body is stopped. The soul now becomes devoid of mental, vocal and physical vibrations, and immediately after the time taken to pronounce five syllables it attains disembodied liberation.19
The last vow which an ascetic has to observe is that of Sallekhana. It is common both to the house-holder and to the ascetics and hence is dealt with in a separate chapter.
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It would be evident that the rules of conduct and the austerities which an ascetic has to observe are of an extremely difficult character and that only a person who is mentally prepared for a life of renunciation can be initiated into the stage. The fact that Jainism does not accept the principles of Varṇāśrama-Dharma of the Hindu religion might imply that a person might become an ascetic at any age; but the principles underlying the eleven Pratimas and the fourteen Guṇasthānas establish that only a person who is imbued with full faith in the validity of Jaina philosophy and is possessed of right knowlede of Atman and matter, of Ahimsa and Aparigraha in all their aspects, and is prepared for a life of penance and of austerities can be a successful
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