Historical Development Of Jaina Philosophy And Religion

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Z_Jaina_Literature_and_Philosophy_a_Critical_Approach_001936_HR.pdf

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Historical Development of Jaina Philosophy and Religion
tion in the spiritual progress, is completely destroyed. At the end of this stage the rest three ghati-karma, jñānāvaraṇa, darśanavaraṇa and antaraya are also destroyed and the soul ascends to the thirteenth stage.
13. This stage is known as sayogi-kevaligunasthana. In this stage soul attains the four infinites, i.e., infinite knowledge, infinite perception, infinite bliss, infinite power and thus becomes omniscient. It is the highest stage of spiritual development. It is the stage of jivana-mukti of other systems of Indian philosophy. Only due to the existence of four non-destructive karmas, i.e., ayu (age), nāma, gotra and vedaniya, soul remains in the body till the span of age determining karma is not exhausted.
14. This stage is named as ayogikevali-gunasthana, because in this stage the omniscient soul controls its activities of mind, body and speech and thus prepares itself for the final emancipation. In this stage the remaining four non-destructive karmas are destroyed and the soul, after leaving the body, proceeds for its heavenly abode at the top of the universe
and lives their for time-infinite.
Three Stages of Spiritual Quest
There are two classifications of spiritual quest in Jainism Theory of fourteen gunasthānas already discussed and the theory of three stages of spiritual developments. This second classification is based on Upanisadic classification of the soul. The Upanisadas have two, three and four-fold classification of the soul. In two-fold classification, the soul is of two kinds - antaḥprajñāna and bahiṣprajñana (Mandukyopaniṣad, 7) and in four-fold classification, four stages of the soul, are: (i) sleeping state, (ii) dreaming state, (iii) awakened state and (iv) transcendental state (Mandukyopaniṣad, 2/12). Similarly, in Jainism spiritual quest has been summarised in three stages (i) the extrovert self (bahirātmā), (ii) the introvert self (antarātmā) and
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(iii) transcendental self (paramātmā). It is clear that in Jainism these three stages of spiritual quest are a later developed concept, because neither the canonical works nor the earlier works of Jaina philosophy of Umasvati, Siddhasena Divakara etc. refer it. In Digamabara tradition, for the first time we have a mention of these classification in Acarya Kundakunda's Mokṣaprabhṛta (4) then in the Pujyapăda's Samadhitantra (4), Sväāmikumāra's Kārtikeyānuprekṣā (192) and Yogindu's Paramatmaprakāśa (13). In Svetambara tradition, Haribhadra has mentioned these three states of spiritual quest in his work:
These three stages are as under:
1. The extrovert self (bahirātmā): Possesses
perverse attitude hence consequently does not discri
minates soul from body, regards the external thing as mine and takes keen interest in the worldly enjoyment.
2. The introvert self (antarātmā): The self, which possessess the right attitude and therefore, clearly distinguishes the soul from the body and the other external belongings is called an introvert self. It does not take interest in the worldly enjoyments, but meditates on one's own real nature and regards external belongings as alien to it. This has been further subdivided into three states (i) lower, (ii) middle and (iii) higher. The soul belonging to fourth stage of gunasthana is called lower introvert self. The soul belonging to the fifth or the sixth stage of gunasthāna is called middle introvert self and the soul belonging to the seventh to twelfth guṇasthāna is called higher introvert self.
3. The transcendental self (paramātmā): The self, completely free from all sorts of impurities and passions such as aversion, attachment, pride, anger, deceit, greed, sexual desire and other sub-passions. According to Jaina tradition this type of self possesses four infinities, i.e., infinite knowledge, infinite perception, infinite bliss and infinte power. There are