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be the result of internal renunciation or should follow it. Others hold that one may initially renounce externally and perfect one's conduct even before inner perfection is achieved as an aid and a preliminary step to the later. It can be safely assumed that Jainism holds the latter view.
JAIN JOURNAL
Another subject intimately related to the spiritual ascent is that of dhyana, or meditation. In Jainism all thinking or dhyana is classified into four types :5 ärta or sorrowful, raudra or violent, dharma or virtuous and sukla or pure. Of these the first and second spring from anxiety, anger, violent desires and craving for sense pleasures and are spiritually degrading. The third consists of purifying, religious thoughts. The fourth is pure concentrated meditation which can be undertaken in very high stages of spiritual development. Each of these four dhyānas have four sub-types.
With these preliminary remarks, let us now study serially the various steps of the spiritual ascent which in Jainism are called gunasthānas.
1st Mithyatva Guṇasthāna
Mithyatva or state of ignorance or perverted attitude as regards one's real nature, duty and aim of life is described in details in Jain literature. This is the lowest rung of the ladder and a person standing here cannot be considered a Jain, since he lacks basic understanding of the path. He has erroneous notions about reality and mistakes untruth for truth, adharma for dharma and vice-versa. He is extrovert, sensuous and strives for sense-enjoyments which he considers the goal of life. He has no moral guidelines. Psychologically he is overpowered by desires and passions and possesses intense degree of anger, greed, egotism and deceit. Another feature of a person in this stage is bigotry, narrow-mindedness and obstinacy regarding his erroneous beliefs. He has either no intellectual capacity to re-assess his preconceived notions, or lacks willingness to modify them.
Most worldly people belong to this gunasthana. Some in due course awaken to the right attitude and gradually advance towards perfection. This stage also includes materialists and those who do
5 For details readers are requested to see The Meditation Techniques in Jainism' in Prabuddha Bharata, February 1985, p. 68.
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