________________
APPENDIX,
xxvii
pure subject of knowledge and as devoid of all tinge of private loves and hatreds. It is wrong to say that one becomes a jivan-mukta at the time; for as one cannot become a king by robing oneself in purple in one's imagination, so cannot one become a jivan-mukta by imagining oneself to be one. This stage is the last for the sarva-tyagi, that is for him who has perfected himself in renunciation, but for the follower on the path of ;ñana (knowledge) there are four others to be traversed. The follower on the path of devotion, if he come up so far, is apparently not qualified to pass any farther, unless he get rid of his divine apparition which bars his further progress, as pointed out ere this. We are not told as to what would happen if he did get rid of his "god," but presumably he would somewhere fall in a line with the follower of knowledge or asceticism, and reach the 'goal' by twelve or sixteen stages.
To proceed with the jñani (follower on the path of knowledge), the remaining four stages on his path are characterised by a refinement of desire which is for doing good generally in the thirteenth, for doing good to "gods" in the fourteenth, and for continuity of creation in the fifteenth. In the sixteenth the elimination of desire apparently raises the "dreamer' to the dignity of Ishwara, as he is actually called by that name by our author. He now plays with his consort, maya, and magician-like rejoices in the performance of tricks which she knows to be sham and baseless in nature"! Finally he passes into the " dissolution of separateness" and ceases to be in the Absolute. This is a condition so hopelessly beyond mind and words that it will not pay the reader to dwell upon it. If he wishes to understand it, he must borrow some of the abundant intuition which the compiler and some of his contributors claim to enjoy.
So far, however, as these additional stages are concerned, it is clear that they are intended to bring the traveller by the first path to the same point which the follower of the second reaches in the twelfth stage; for it is presumed that love of personality can be destroyed by the ascetic in that stage but not by him who is unable to control his passions fully. The latter, who reaches the topmost point with regard to dream-making, but lags behind in respect of indifference to his own personality, must, therefore, qualify himself even in that particular before he can reach the goal. This is all the difference between the two
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
