Facets of Jaina Religiousness in Comparative Light

Author(s): L M Joshi
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 62

JAINA CONCEPTION OF THE HOLY PENTAD
saints. They are, therefore, remembered and honoured in the first place.
It should not be assumed, however, that the siddhas are never invoked first. In a large number of ancient and medieval Jaina texts adoration is offered first to the siddhas and then to the arhats in the Pannavaņāsutta itself the author pays homage first to the siddha, next to Jina Mahāvīra.56 Vīrasenācārya56 also mentions siddha first and arhat afterwards. Kundakunda57 does the same. A few other texts in which the siddhas have precedence over the arhats in benedictory verses are the following: Brhaddravyasangraha-ţikā, first verses adores siddha, second verse adores arhat. Bhagavati Āradhana, first line of the first verse remembers the siddhas while the second line remembers the arhats. In the Gommațasāra-Jivakāņda, siddhas are invoked first, arhats next in the first line of the verse. Yogasăra-Prābhrta, verse 1 adores siddhas only. Paramātmaprakāśa verses 1-5 adore the siddhas whereas the arhats are adored in verse 6. Yogasāra verse 1 adores the siddha (paramātmā) while verse 2 adores Jinendra.
Any further discussion on this point is not called for in the present context. The formula of five-fold obeisance indicates that all the five classes of holy persons are worthy of honour in spite of the difference in virtuous properties peculiar to each class.
Mrs. Sinclair Stevenson has stated that these five classes, from sādhu to siddha, represent "different ranks a man may hold as an ascetic before he finally attains mok şa.”:58 This statement appears to us to be misleading. The state of perfection (siddha-gati) is not a 'rank' or 'office which a man can hold. It is the state of supreme Holiness wholly transcendental and ineffable. Nor can it be said that the sādhus, upādhyāyas and ācāryas represent an ascending order of religiousness. We have seen above in the formula of four refuges that sādhu is a word which includes upādhyā ya and ācārya. This is to say, an ācārya is also a sādhu; a sādhu functions as ācārya or as upādhyāya. It is of course, true that our texts describe different kinds of virtues and attainments of an ācārya or upādhyā ya but both of them are sädhus and many ethical virtues are common to them.
Our discussion of the nature of faith in Jainism and the formula of five-fold obeisance has already lengthened beyond our hope. We shall now describe the nature of the holy pentad celebrated in the pañca-namaskāra-mantra. III. iii. THE ARHATS
The word arhat (variants are arhanta, arahata, arahanta, arihara, arihanta) gene
55. 56. 57. 58.
Pannavaņāsuttam, part I, Text, p. 1; Sutrāgame, vol. II, p. 266. Satkhan lāgamah with Dhavalaţikā, vol. I, part I, p. 1. Samayasara, 1.1. The Heart of Jainism, p. 239.