Jaina Acara Siddhanta aur Svarupa

Author(s): Devendramuni
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 62

28
Jaina Acāra : Siddhānta aura Swarüpa
than the deluding ones and hence is enveloped. It stays for an instant but the maximum duration is forty-eight minutes, after which it inevitably falls down to some lower stage on the rise of the suppressed passion. The soul which has climbed up the ladder of annihilation goes up to the twelfth stage.
When a piece of atom is moved hither and thither in the water several times, the dirty water subsides throwing clean water above. Likewise sinful karma subsides for a short while when the soul is blessed with perfect purity, but knowledge-obscuring karmas have not yet left the soul with the result that it is still far from omniscience.
The fire under ashes flares up with the favourable wind, so also the suppressed passions make themselves felt with the result that the soul at times falls down to the first stage. With right efforts, however, it may rise again. The Gita also says that the passions suppressed do not always remain in that condition. Even the sub-conscious becomes the conscious when social conditions change for the better.
The twelfth stage is of 'Kšiņamoha'. It is the summit of the ladder of annihilation just as the eleventh stage is the summit of the ladder of subsidence. Its duration is forty-eight minutes. In the last instant all the sub-types of the knowledge-covering, intention-covering and the obstructive karmas are annihilated. The soul is now free from all the four types of obscuring karmas. Lord Mahavira said, "The root of karma is delusion or infatuation. With its annihilation the soul becomes immaculate. To be perfectly righteous it takes less than forty-eight minutes. The soul is thus endowed with perfect vision and knowledge with no obstacle to disturb it in any way.
The thirteenth stage is of 'Samyogakevali'. It is equivalent toʻliberated while living' of the other Indian systems. The Jainas call it 'Samyogakevali'. Of the five conditions of bondage viz. perversity, non-abstinence, spiritual inertia, passion and activity, the first four are annihilated but not the last one. The undefiled soul alone is omniscient. Here there is still the rise and existence of the four non-obscuring types of karmas, viz. feeling-producing, longevity-determining, body-building and the status-determining. The soul cannot be free from the embodied existence until it reaches the end of the life-term already determined by the Ayukarma. The length of the Ayukarma of a soul attaining emancipation cannot be reduced or increased. In case the length of any of the other three karmas is greater than that of the 'Āyukarma, the soul reduces the former length in order to make it equal to the latter. This equalization is possible by 'Samudghāta'. This process lasts only for eight instants, and is an indispensable means of the premature fruition and the consequent exhaustion of the karmas of longer durations. The Karmic matter is forced to