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Letter 2
thinning out to such an extent that finally they vanish and the soul gains victory over its passions and becomes Veetaragi.
Veetaragata is described as absence of all passions i.e. Kashayas ch414. Kashayas are of two types; they are attachment known as Raag M and aversion known as Dvesha a. These are further divided in four kinds. Anger known as Krodh she and pride known as Maan are divisions of Dvesha and fraud i.e. deceitful behaviour known as Maya ren and greed known as Lobh nu are divisions of Raag.
With Real Right Belief i.e. Samyak Darshan, Veetaragata begins. Then as the purity of the soul i.e. Veetaragata increases, the intensity of passions decreases.
Now here you have to bear in mind that Veetaragata is a positive attribute of Atma. It is a stage of total equanimity and total victory over passions. In the beginning Veetaragata is explained with reference to the absence of passions. It is easier to understand, because in day to day life we experience these passions. We are familiar with the existence of these in everybody.
Veetaragata is the pure state of conduct, and Kashaya is an impure state of conduct. Shubha-Bhava( virtuous thoughts ) and Ashubha-Bhava (evil thoughts) are two categories of the impure state of conduct itself. You can visualize this from the chart depicted as follows:
State of Charitra(Conduct)
Pure
Impure
Shubha-Bhava
Ashubha-Bhava
Except for Jain philosophy, no other philosophy describes the shuddha ( pure ) state or how to attain this state. Samyak-Darshan (pure state of belief), Samyak-Dnyan (pure state of knowledge ] and Samyak-Charitra ( pure state of conduct ] emerge simultaneously.
The four Anantanubandhi-Kashayas or one quadruplet Kashaya of anger, pride, deceit and greed are absent at that moment. A householder can reach this level. Upon enhanced freedom from passions due to increased steadfastness in the soul, a desire to take additional vows crops up. An individual committed to these vows is called a Vrati-Shravak ( householder with freedom from two quadruplets of passions ). When a Vrati-Shravak after giving up the worldly involvement takes the vows of a Muni, the freedom from passions solidifies even more, and three quadruplets of passsions are eliminated; then we call them Munis. I will explain these in details at a later stage.
