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THE JAINA GAZETTE
Jaina saints.
These stages in all are eleven in number and mark the spiritual progress made by the soul, from time to time, as well as from one step to another, each succeeding step signifying an additional feature of progress over and above the preceding one?.' Thus the pratimas serve the purpose of a ladder to the layman for reaching the elevated and severe path of asceticism of Jaina saints; which is the only royal road for final liberation. The householder of the darsana pratima is called a "Naistika-Sravaka." But it may be noted here that the aforesaid enunciation of the darsana pratima is according to the latter Acaryas, who seem to have made it more rigid under the pressure of the changes of time; because it being the mere stage of belief, there should be no enjoinment as to the observance of the particular vows enumerated above. In earlier Jainism, this pratima had the concern only with the right and full observance of the 'Samyaktva "3, and its observer seems to have been at liberty to observe the above vows according to his will and capacity. This is the very reason that it is not styled-a Vrat1Pratima.
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The second vrata pratima consists in observing the five Anu, the three Guna and the four Siksa vratas, without any defects. In the first stage, the layman observes certain vows, but surely without caring for their defects, And so for this reason only, he is not counted in the second stage. Well, the Anuoratas of this stage are five in all 4 and we find
1. Dansana vaya samaiya posaba sa citta rayabhatte ya Vambharambhapariggaha annmana uddittha desavirado ya || 22.
-Caritrapahuda.
2. Confluence of Opposites, p. 9.
3. Pt. Jayachandraji fn his commentary on the Caritrapahuda expresses this difference between the earlier and latter acaryas clearly; e. g., "Yaka nama darsana hi kahya tahan a isa nama janana zo yala Kevala samyaktva hi hoya hai ara avrati hai anuvrata hahi ity adi."
4. Thule tasakayahe thule mose adatta thule ya Paribaro paramahila paraggaharambha parimanam || 24.
...: 3
-Caritrapahuda.
Although originally, the Anuvratas are counted as five only but there are some acaryas, who raise their number to six. They count: the Ratri-bho-jana-vrati (abstention from taking anything during the Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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