________________
400
Epistemology of Jainas
and higher degrees as the aspirant ascends to the stairs of gunasthānas. The powers of soul are lying burried under the obscuring karmans. The degree of manifestation of those powers varies according to the thickness or thinness of the obscurance.
According to Jainism Mohanlya is the most powerful of all the karmans. This is the principal cause of bondage of the soul. The other karmans get their strength from moha. The arrangement of fourteen gunasthāna also is mainly based on its different potencies. We can compare it with the avidyā of other systems.
Moha operates on the soul in two ways. Firstly, it does not allow the soul to know its own reality. The soul, which is immaterial, eternal and pure, is wrongly identified with the material, perishable and impure body or senses. The cause of this perverted attitude is recognized as Darśanamohaniya. Darśana means vision; attitude or faith. Darsana-moha clouds that vision, makes the attitude perverted and misdirects the faith. The second operation of Mohanlya is to obstruct the soul in its attempt to attain the pure state of infinite bliss. The passions keep the soul involved in external pleasures and pains. This operation is effected by cãritramohanlya. The first four guṇastbādas are based on different stages of darśanamohanlya and five to twelve on caritramohaniya. The last two are the stages of complete realization.
The first gunasthāna is koowo as Mithyādrsti. It can be compared with the samsāraprāgbhārā conception of the yogasystem. In this stage the attitude of soul is always misdirected. He through after external pleasures and is known as bahirātman or bahirmukha. This stage also has many grades of karmic influence. Sometimes, the influence is thick and sometimes it is thin. These gradations are the result of a definite process or deliberate striving for liberation. Nor they set the aspirant on right path. They are merely wanderings in a forest where the person, who has lost the way, sometimes, goes very
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
