Fundamentals Of Jainism

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Veer Nirvan Bharti

Page 93

STAGES ON THE PATH
8.5
(religion). Surrounded by devas and men who hie from all quarters. to offer Him devotion, the Tirthamkara explains the truth in the divine anak shari* language, which is interpreted into, popular speech, for the benefit of the masses, by an advanced disciple, and muni called ganadhara. The truth thus known is called śruti (revelation), or śruta jñāna, and its absolute accuracy is guaranteed by the faculty of omniscience which does not come into manifestation so long as there remains the least trace of any. of the energies of the mohaniya karma.
(14) Ayoga kevali (ayoga, without mind, speech and body, and hevali, ominiscient). This is the last stage on the Path, and is followed by the soul's ascent to nirvana on the exhaustion of the aghûtia karmas. The jiva who passes this stage is called siddha. He has now become fully established in Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct, and is freed from all kinds of karmic impurities and bonds which had hitherto held him in captivity. No longer subject to the de-pressing influence of matter, He rises up immediately to the topmost part of the universe to reside there, for ever, in the enjoyment of all those divine attributes which many of us have never even dreamt of. A conqueror in the true sense of the word, He now enjoys, to the full, the fruit of His unflinching fight with His own lower nature, Pure intelligence in essence, He now becomes an embodiment of knowledge by bursting His bounds. Thus, what some people consider to be a stultification of character is really the acquisition of such godly qualities as perfect discernment or faith, infinite knowledge, inexhaustible power and pure unabating joy. The Ideal of absolute Perfection, the Siddha becomes the object of
*It is somewhat difficult to give an exact description of the anakshari speech; it consists of the powerful, audible vibrations of the tirthamkara's will become omnipotent by the destruction of the ghâtiâ karmas. These vibrations impinge on the mind of the congregation in a manner akin to the process of thought-transference of the telepathic type, and are at the time heard by all who understand them in their own tongues. Subsequently they are translated into popular speech and constitute what is called Agama (Scripture). The ordinary mode of conversation is not possible for the tirthamkaru on account of the changes wrought by tapa in His organs of speech,