________________
the mortification of the flesh and the practice of virtues, study, renunciation and meditation
Moral life in the usual sense is only a prelude to spiritual transcendence Training in the practice of virtues, the strenuous abandonment of all natural life, total transcendence into the pure perfection of the spirit—these are the three stages of ethico-spiritual development The Jainas have mapped out this whole development into fourteen stages called the Gunasthānas Gunas stand for specific characteristics of the Jīvas as constituted by faith, knowledge and conduct while sthāna indicates a stage of purity Guna-sthānas, thus, stand for particular stages of purity through which the character of the soul evolves False belief is rejected in the second stage while self-control becomes habitual from the sixth Passions are left behind beginning from the eleventh stage and activity finally in the last stage The four causes of bondage-lack of right belief, lack of self-control, passion and activity—are gradually shed in this process That these factors are abandoned in this order is not necessary since the order of the Gunasthānas need not be chronological In any case, self-control, dispassion and freedom from psychophysical activity constitute the three basic stages Reflecting over this course of moral and spiritual life outlined by Jaina seers and thinkers we would see that in the ultimate analysis the concept of the good is the concept of what ought to be attained while the concept of evil is the concept of what ought to be abandoned or avoided This knowing and avoiding are together termed 'comprehension' or 'Parijñā' The good ultimately is the spirit and the evil the contact of the spirit with matter Out of this contact arise desires and passions, delusion, egoism, activities motivated by them, and violence All these constitute and generate evil On the other hand, nonviolence, restraint and selfcontrol, equanimity between self and others, rational discrimination, dispassion, etc, constitute virtues All these could be described under the subjugation of the body, senses and the mind and detachment from their bondage
Such a notion of morality does not distinguish it from spirituality It is often assumed that morality characterizes social behavi
