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108
THE DOCTRINE OF LIBERATION IN INDIAN RELIGIONS
two types of sukla-dhyana are attained during the course of seventh to the twelfth spiritual stages.97
(iii) Sūkṣma-kriya-pratirpāti: After passing through the first two types, the aspirant attains kevalajñāna and this is the third stage of śuh ladhyāna where the subtle activity of body remains and all other activities cease. The four obscuring karmas are annihilated but only four non-obscuring karmas continue. This type of dhyana is attained in the thirteenth spiritual stage.98.
(iv) Vyuparata-kriyā-nivarti: It is attained when the omniscient is on the fourteenth stage; no yogic activities are there, all the karmas having been annihilated, the self attains siddhahood.99. The essential conditions that facilitate sukladhyāna are forbearance, humility, straightforwardness and freedom from greed.100
STAGES OF SPIRITUAL PATH (GUŅASTHANAS)
The map of the pathway to liberation according to Jainism envisages fourteen stages. These stages are in ascending order called gunasthanas. Here the term guna stands for the nature of the self in possessson of right belief, knowledge and conduct, and guṇasthāna means the stage of the self on the way of purification and liberation. The Gommaṭasara states that the psychical condition of the self caused by the operation of karmic particles in rising, subsiding, annihilating, or partly subsiding and partly annihilating forms is called gunasthana.101 The self attains its innate nature and frees itself from the karmic encrustation through the stages of spiritual path and in the last stage it realizes its complete perfection.
The Jainas believe that the self has an inherent capacity to get rid of the wheel of worldly existence and to attain liberation. This capacity or tendency causes uneasiness with worldly sufferings and tries to elevate the self. This tendency, force or urge which comes out from within the self is technically known as yathāpravṛttakaraṇa.102 It lasts only for less than forty-eight minutes (antarmuhurta). The
97.
98.
99. 100.
101.
102.
Ibid. IX. 41-42. Ibid., IX. 44
Ibid,
Dhyanasataka, 69; N. Tatia, op. cit., p. 291.
Gommaṭasara, (jivakāņļa), 8,
Vises avasyakabhaṣya, 1204-1217; see T.G. Kalghatgi, Some Problems in Jaina Psychology p, 152.
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