Jaina Acara Siddhanta aur Svarupa

Author(s): Devendramuni
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

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Jaina Acāra : Siddhānta aura Swarüpa (11) It subsides but does not quite annihilate raja and tama which try still to assert a little.
(12) Both rajas and tamas are destroyed. Alongside satoguna also becomes latent.
(13) One lives in the world but remains unaffected by the three qualities.
(14) It transcends also the three qualities.
As such only partial similarity between the two can be established. Satoguna alone helps the soul. The worst offender is Tamas. From the standpoint of spiritual growth eight divisions have been formulated as under :
(1) It retards the rise of self. It is all sinful with no right vision, knowledge or conduct. It is like the first stage of the Jainas' spiritual development. It may be compared to the first Jaina stage and the Bauddha "Andha - pithakajanibhumi.
(2) Tamas is predominant even though it might be imbued with faith, but satoguna holds sway so far as conduct is concerned. All religious observances are sullied with the desire of fruit. Jainism forbids it. Desire acts like a thom which pricks religious practices. It may be compared with the Buddhist ‘Kalgāna-prthakjana and Jaina Marga'.
(3) Faith and intellect are both ruled over by Rajas. It generates unsteadiness. It is assailed by doubt and uncertainty. The Gitā, therefore, treats it as an undeveloped state. It may be compared with the mixed stage. Jainism believes that death does not occur in such state but the Gitā holds that he who dies thus is reborn in such forms of existence that can never free themselves from attachment.
(4) The attitude is pure but the conduct is governed by raja and tama. It may be compared to the fourth stage of spiritual development. Such souls are capable of improving their conduct too. It has been recognised by Vedic and Buddhist faiths too.
(5) Both faith and intellect are undefiled but not the conduct which makes aspirants fickle. Since tama is not quite destroyed yet, spiritual practices cannot reach their perfection. It may be compared to the Jaina stages from fifth to eleventh.
(6) Faith, knowledge and conduct are all satoguna, with the result that there is no variation between an aspirant's mind, speech and action. There remains neither ego nor attachment. It is an advanced stage comparable to twelfth stage in which delusion is non-existent. Conductdeluding karmas are annihilated.