Laghutattvasphota

Author(s): Amrutchandracharya, Padmanabh S Jaini, Dalsukh Malvania, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 15

first partially achieved while living as a layman (śrāvaka), and then totally while an ascetic (muni). These changes are indicated by the fifth and sixth stages, called deśa-virata and pramatta-virata respectively. Through these stages the aspirant cultivates ‘right-conduct' (samyak-cāritra), which to the nascent Jina comes so spontaneously that he is called the very embodiment of sāmāyika (sāmāyikam svayam abhūt... 52).
It might be argued by certain overzealous advocates of the ‘niscaya-naya' that the noble aspirant, endowed with such insight and equanimity, could dispense with the 'mere formalities' of becoming an ascetic (i.e. the vyavahāra)2 o. As if to correct such a notion, the poet makes the pointed observation that external (dravya) and internal (bhāva) controls (samyama) are interdependent, and that the nascent Jina demonstrated this by first establishing himself in the discipline of the ascetic (tvam dravyasamyamapathe prathamam nyayunkthāh-53). The sixth stage called pramatta-virata, is marked by numerous ascetic activities, particularly the practice of such austerities (tapas) as fasting and long hours of meditation. But these are all actions, albeit worldly wholesome ones (śubha), and must yield results according to the laws of karma. Further, the word 'pramatta' itself indicates more than simple carelessness in ascetic activities; it implies lack of mindfulness regarding the true nature of the self. Hence the true aspirant must turn 'completely inward', 'creating vast distance between the purusa and praksti'?1 (dūrāntaram racayataḥ puruşa-prakstyoh/61) i.e. between the soul and the karman, and attain the firm stage of pure consciousness (śuddhopayoga). 22 in which no new karma is generated. This stage is appropriately called apramatta-virata, the seventh guṇasthäna, which becomes the springboard for rapid advancement on the Path.
Up to this stage the aspirant had been engaged in controlling the avenues through which new influxes or kaşāyas or passions (namely, anger, pride, deceit and greed) could enter (äsrava), hindering the realization of perfect conduct (sakala-caritra). Secured in the firm stage of apramatta-virata, he exerts his energies to totally eradicate (kşaya) the latent forces of these passions, passions which have been accummulated from time immem and present a potential threat to his purity.
The Jaina calls these latent forces “cāritra-mohaniya-karma”, which he further devides into two categories : bhāva (psychological and internal) and dravya (physical and external). Attachment (rāga) and a version (dveşa), for instance, are bhäva-karmas, defiled (vibhāva) states of the quality (guna) called cāritra (purity). In the beginningless state of samsära, this quality remains in its unnatural (vaibhāvika) mode (pariņāma) and is perceived only as it undergoes fluctuations; in the state of mokşa, the same quality