Jain Moral Doctrine

Author(s): Harisatya Bhattacharya
Publisher: Jain Sahitya Vikas Mandal

Page 80

STAGES IN THE MORAL PROGRESS
(14) It is in the final, the Ayoga-kevali stage that the already pure, perfect and all-knowing self becomes free from the connections with or influences of the above four non-destructive Karmas and the consequent Yogas. It is immediately antecedent to the disembodied state of Liberation and lasts for a very very short period, just sufficient for uttering five short vowels with moderate speed...
It is to be noted that with the advance in spirituality, the self becomes less and less troubled by the Parişaha's or privations. It is said that up to the ninth Gunasthāna, all the twenty-two sufferings may torment the self. During the tenth, the eleventh and the twelth stages of spiritual evolution, the Mohaniya Karmas are progressively overpowered or destroyed. The result is that with the mitigation or annihilation of those deluding factors, the moral self no longer suffers any inconvenience from the following eight ordinarily troublesome causes viz., nakedness, languor, woman, sitting in a determined manner, abuses from others, begging, respect or disrespect from others and infirm belief. In the thirteenth stage, all the destructive Karmas are annihilated, but the Vedanīya or the feeling-yielding forces still linger, although these lose all their powers, due to the absence of the Mohanīya or delusion. It may accordingly be said that theoretically at least, the eleven following feelings of privation due to the presence of the Vedanīya are conceivable in a person at the thirteenth stage viz.-hunger, thirst, cold, heat, insect-bites, walking, hard-bed, assault, disease, contact with thorns and dirt. With the attainment of the final bliss, all traces of privation-feelings absolutely disappear.
It has already been said that the Vratas or the vows are practised in their perfect form only by the homeless saints. The lay people practise the Aņu-vratas or the vows in a modified form. The moral practioners are thus primarily divided into two classes viz. the Anagāris, i.e., the homeless Munis and the Agāris or house-holders. People in the first six stages viz. the stages upto the Pramatta-Virata, are house-holders while the moral practioners in the next eight stages are homeless saints. A house-holder's moral efforts are directed to the practice of the following eleven acts, Pratima's as they are called; viz.-(1) The Darsana-pratimā, which means that he must have a firm faith in the tenets of the Jaina religion; (2) The Vrata-pratimā, which means that he practises the Vratas to the best of his ability; (3) The Sāmāyika-pratimā, which enjoins that he must meditate deeply for fixed periods, at stated times; (4) The Posadhopavāsa-pratimā, which means that he observes the fasts faultlessly: (5) The Saçitta-tyāga-pratimā, which means that he must avoid all
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