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ETHICAL DOCTRINES IN JAINISM
Karmas can be overthrown? What is liberation ? and what is the manifested nature of soul on being liberated ?1 If Ajñā-vicaya establishes oneself in truth, Apāya-vicaya lays stress on the means of realising the essential nature of truth. 3) Vipāka-vicaya Dharma-dhyāna implies the reflection on the effects which Karmas produce on the diverse empirical souls." 4) The reflection on the nature and form of this universe constitutes what is called Samsthāna-vicaya Dharma-dhyāna. This kind of Dhyāna impresses upon the mind the vastness of the universe and the diversity of its constituents. By this Dhyāna the aspirant realises his own position in the universe. These four types of Dhyāna serve twofold purposes, of auspicicious reflection and self-meditation; i.e., they supply the material for the intellect and offer inspiration to the self for meditation. Though they do not seem to suggest any process of meditation, their subject-matter is such as to evoke active interest for nothing but self-realisation through self-meditation. Thus Dharma-dhyāna is meditation as well as reflection, the latter may pass into the former and the former may lapse into the latter. In other words, the four kinds of Dhyāna are reflective when intellectual thinking is witnessed, and they are meditative when the mind attains stability in respect of them. The best kind of Dharma-dhyāna is to meditate upon the self by fixing one's mind in it after renouncing all other thoughts.
SUKLA-DHYANA: Dharma-dhyāna which has so far been expounded prepares a suitable ground and atmosphere for ascending the loftiest spiritual heights. It claims to have swept away every iota of inauspicious dispositions from the mind of the aspirant. The Yogi has achieved selfmastery to the full, and has developed a unique taste for the accomplishment of that something which is unique. The Yogi, having brushed aside the unsteadiness of his mind, now resorts to Sukla Dhyāna (pure Dhyāna), which is so called because of its origination after the destruction or subsidence of the filth of passions. Not all Yogis are capable of performing this type of Dhyāna. Only those who are possessing bodies of the best order (Vajra Vrsabha Nārāca, etc.), can have all the four types of Sukladhyāna. Of the four types of Sukla-dhyāna, namely, Pșthaktva-vitarkavicāra, Ekatva-vitarka-avicāra, Sūksmakriyāpratipātin, and Vyuparatakriyānivartin, the first two occur up to the twelfth Gunasthāna with the
1 Jņānā. XXXIV. 34/11. 2 Sarvartha. IX. 36; Mülā. 401. 3 Sar vārtha. IX. 36. 4 Kārtti. 480. 5ñānā. XLII. 3, 6. Jñānā. XLII. 5. 7 Ta.su. IX. 39.
8 We shall deal with the Gunasthānas in the next chapter.
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