Concepts on Parisaha and Tapa in Jainism

Author(s): Kamalchand Sogani
Publisher: Z_Hajarimalmuni_Smruti_Granth_012040.pdf

Page 10

५४ : मुनि श्रीहजारीमल स्मृति-ग्रन्थ
degenerates. 112 This Dhyāna, also occurs in the self without any education and is the result of the intensest passion, or the Krşņa, Nila and Käpota Leśyās. 113 Pre-requisites of Prasasta Dhyāna Next in order comes the Praśasta type of Dhyāna which may be called Dhyāna proper. This type of Dhyāna is contributive to Moksa or final release. Before we directly embark upon the study of the types of Prasasta Dhyāna, it is of primary and radical importance to delineate their pre-requisites which will enforce banishment of all the inimical elements robbing the soul of the legitimate disposition and proper conduct for spiritual advancement. In consequence the self will gain strength to dive deep into the ordinarily unfathomable depths of the mysterious self. Indubiously, in the intital stages the purity of empirical and psychical background is the indispensable condition of Dhyāna. The necessary pre-requistes, of Dhyāna, in general, may be enumerated by saying that the subject must have the ardent desire for final liberation, be non-attached to worldly objects, possess unruffled and tranquil mind, be self-controlled, stable, sense-controlled, patient and enduring. 114 Besides, one should steer clear of (1) the worldly, (3) the philosophico-ethical, and (3) the mental distractions, and look towards the suitability of (4) time, (5) place, and (6) posture, and (7) towards the attainment of mental equilibrium, before one aspires for Dhyāna conducive to liberation. We now deal with them in succession. (1) The life of the householder is fraught with numberless disturbances which impede the development of his meditational disposition. Subhacandra holds and antagonistic attitude towards the successful performance of Dhyana in the life of the householder. He expresses his view in very emphatic words that we may hope the occurrence of the flower of the sky, and horn of the donkey at some time and place, but the adornment of the householder's life with the Dhyāna is never possible.115 All this must not imply that the householder is outright incapable of performing Dhyāna, but it should mean that he cannot perform Dhyāna of the best order which is possible only in the life of the saint. (2) If the aspirant, despite his saintly garb suffers from the philosophical and ethical delusions he will like wise lose the opportunity of performing Dhyāna. In other words, right belief and right conduct cannot be dispensed with, if Dhyāna is to be performed. (3) The control of mind which in turn leads to the control of passions and senses is also the essential condition of Dhyāna. Mental distraction like mental perversion hinders meditational progress, and to achieve liberation without mental purity is to drink water from there where it is not, i.e. from the river of mirage.116 That is Dhyāna, that is supreme knowledge, that is the object of Dhyāna by virtue of which the mind after transcending ignorance submerges in the self's own nature. 117 A man who talks of Dhyana without the conquset of mind is ignorant of the nature of Dhyāna. 118 On the reflective plane, the recognition of the potential divinity of the empirical self and the consciousness of the difference between the empirical self and the transcendental self will unequivocally function as the mental pre-requisite condition of Dhyāna. 119 The practice of the fourtold virtues of Maitri (friendship with all creatures), Pramoda (appreciation of the merits of others), Karuņā (compassion and sympathy) and Madhyastha (indifference to the unruly) has also been prescribed as the mental pre-requisite conditions of Dhyana. These quadruple virtues, when practised in an earnest spirit, cause to disapper the slumber of perversion, and to set in eternal tranquillity.120 (4-5) The selection of proper place, posture and time is no less importance for the performance of Dhyāna. The aspirant should avoid those
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