Book Title: Jainism And Its History
Author(s): Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Research Foundation for Jainology

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Page 234
________________ The third stage is technically known as SamyagMithyādrasti. It is a mixed stage of the right and false attitudes like the taste of curd mixed with sugar, which is neither sweet nor sour. This is the stage of doubt. In this stage soul accepts neither the perverse attitude nor the right one. This is also an intermediate stage. Prof. Kalghatgi mentions this stage as a stage of confusion. He writes, “After getting insight into the right attitude for the first time, it is possible that a man may at the same time begin to feel that what is right may not be right, and he may cling to false ideologies also” (Some Problems of Jaina Psychology, p. 156). This stage is the stage of active struggle between the right and the wrong. The right and the wrong both present themselves before the mind (consciousness) and claim their righteousness, but the mind being incapable of taking any decision cannot select either of them. Thus this is the stage of indecisiveness of the mind to choose between the true and the false. The fourth stage is Avirata Samyag-drsti, a stage of right attitude without hesitation. Though in this scheme of Gunasthāna, it is considered to be the fourth stage, but in reality it is the first stage in the upward journey of the soul towards its spiritual heights. It is the stage in which the soul gets the glimpse of truth for the first time. At this stage the self knows right as a right and wrong as a wrong but due to the lack of spiritual strength, in spite of the knowledge and the will he cannot abstain himself from the wrongpath of immorality. In other words, at this stage the soul lacks selfcontrol. The soul can acquire next stage only when it overcomes this want. The persons, who have a steady faith in the doctrines of the Jinas, but feel their inability to follow the moral code, come under this stage. One can achieve this stage by having control over one's extreme or intense passions (Anantanubandhi Kasayas) and through the subsidence (Upasama) or Annihilation (Ksaya) of first Jainism and its History 232

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