________________ xxxviii Jaina Meditation comparison with that of the dark period.1 Only a soul belonging to the white period and following the moral conduct is capable of the first stage called adhyatma.From the viewpoint of the stage of spiritual development, only the souls in the fifth-or some higher stage are capable of it. But the problem is why should a soul cross into the white period at all ? Or, why should not all the souls do so ? Haribhadra says that it is all due to the inherent nature of things. He also refers to the view of an exponent of the Sankhya system, named Gopendra, which holds that the pui usa, the principle of consciousness, does not even enquire about the path of realizatioa unless and until the prakrti has turned her face from him. It is the nature of the spirit to get disentangled from matter. But this disentanglement is possible only when its conditions are fulfilled. However pious and virtuous and spiritually advanced one may appear to be, one is not capable of yoga unless one has cut the knots and attained the requisite purification of the soul. After such state has been achieved the soul is fit for the preliminary preparation (purvaseva) for yoga. This preliminary preparation consists in the worship of the preceptor and the like, good conduct, austerity, and absence of hatred for the final emancipation. The soul now attains right attitude and becomes a bodhisattva.? All the characteristics of a bodhisattva are present in such soul. Thus the soul henceforth does no more fall to the depth wherein heretofore it had been. A bodhisattva does not commit an evil act from the depth of his heart, but if he does so at all he does only physically. There is no more spiritual degeneration.8 He now takes interest exclusively in the well-being of others, acquires wisdom, treads upon the right path, becomes noble, and appreciates merits. He has now attained enlightenment (bodhi). But if the conception of a bodhisattva is narrowed down and made to include only those rare souls who are destined to redeem the world from sin and suffering, Haribhadra says that the Jaina conception of the tirtharkara fulfils that ideat 10 There are some souls who are naturally inclined 1 The length of the white period is less than even one pudgala-paravarta while the length of the dark period covers an infinite number of such pudgala-paravartas. A pudgala-paravarta is the time required by a soul to absorb as karman at least once all the atoms of the universe and release them after they have come to fruition. 2 YBi, 72. 3 Cf. Y Bi, 77. 4 Ibid., 100-101. 5 Vide Studies in Jaina Philosophy, pp. 270-1. 6 purvaseva tu tantrajnair gurudevadipujanam / sadacaras tapo inuktyadvesas ce'ha prakirtita //--YBI, 109. 7 YBi, 270. 8 Cf. Ibid., 271. 9 Cf. Ibid., 272. 10 Ibid., 274.
