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THE JAINA GAZETTE. 18. Q. How is Right Belief attained ?
A. Right Belief is attained by a soul by Nisarga, intuition, independently of the precept of other or by Adhigama, tuition by which knowledge is acquired. Really speaking Right Belief is attained as the result of subsidence or destruction-subsidence or destruction of Karmas which delude Right Belief and those which create in the soul passions of the highest degree. There are external causes also for Right Belief. They are Dravya e.g. images of Jina, Kshetra, e.g., Samavasarana. Kala i.e., Right Belief is attained by a soul only when the interval to the soul's attaining Liberation is less than half the time taken by the soul for its embodiments in all matter (arddha-pudgala-parivartana) and Bhava, pure thought-activity.
19. Q. By what means Adhigama or Tuition is attained ? A. It is attained by Pramana and Naya. 20. Q. What is Pramana ?
Pramana is authority by means of which we have right knowledge of things. It is either direct (Pratyaksha) or indirect (Paroksha). It consists of Mati Jnana (Sensitive Knowledge) Sruta Jnana (Scriptural Knowledge), Avadhi Jnana (Clairvoyant Knowledge), Mana-paryaya Jnana (Telepathic Knowledge), Kevala Jnana (omniscience). Mati Jnana and Sruta Jnana are said to form Paroksha Pramana whereas Avadhi Jnana, Manahparaya Jnana and Kevala Jnana are forms of Pratyaksha Pramana.
21. Q. How is Mati Jnana acquired ? A. Mati Jnana is acquired through the senses and the mind. 22. Q. What are the different stages of Mati-Jnana ?
A. Four stages of Mati Jnana are discribed in Jainism. They are Avagraha, Iha, Avaya and Dharana. Avagraha is the first impression that we get through our senses about an object. Iha is the desire to know what the object perceived is. Avaya is the determination of the object attended to. Dharana is keeping in our mind the knowledge of the object. For example, we see an animal running in the street. (Avagraha). We wish to know if the animal is a horse, an ass, or any other animal. (Iha). We find that it is a horse (Avaya). We remember in our mind about the horse
(Dharana). Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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