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Paramätma-prakasa
wing the religious path, goes higher and higher on the rungs of the spiritual ladder called Gunasthānas, and how from stage to stage the various Karmas are being destroyed. The space does not permit me to give the details here, but I might only note here that the whole course is minutely studied and recorded with marvellous calculations that often baffle our understanding. 1 Some of the Gunasthānas are merely meditational stages, and the subject of meditation too is described in details. The aspirant is warned not to be misled by certain Siddhis, i.e., miraculous attainments, but go on pursuing the ideal till Ātman is realized. The pessimistic outlook of life, downright denunciation of the body and its pleasure and hollowness of all the possessions which are very common in Jainism indicate the aspirant's sick-minded temperament which is said to anticipate mystical healthy-mindedness. In the Jaina theory of knowledge, three kinds of knowledge are recognised where the soul apprehends reality all by itself and without the aid of senses : first, Avadhijñāna is a sort of direct knowledge without spatial limitation, and it is a knowledge of the clairvoyant type; secondly. Manahparyāya-Jňāna is telepathic knowledge where the soul directly apprehends the thoughts of others; and lastly, Kevala-jñāna is omniscience by the attainment of which the soul knows and sees everything without the limitation of time and space. The last one belongs only to the liberated souls or to the souls who are just on the point of attaining liberation with their Jňānāvaraniya-Karman destroyed, and thus it is developed when Ātman is realized. Jainism is pre-eminently an ascetic system. Though the stage of laity is recognised, everyone is expected to enter the order of monks as a necessary step towards liberation. Elaborate rules of conduct are noted and penancial courses prescribed for a monk:2 and it is these that contribute to the purity of spirit. A Jaina monk is asked not to wander alone lest he might be led astray by various temptations. A monk devotes major portion of his time to study and meditation; and day to day he approaches his teacher, confesses his errors and receives lessons in Atmavidyā or Ātma-Jõāna directly from his teacher. The magnanimous saint, the Jaina Tirthankara, who is at the pinnacle of the highest spiritual experience, is the greatest and ideal teacher: and his words are of the highest authority. Thus it is clear that Jainism contains all the essentials of mysticism. To evaluate mystical visions rationally is not to value them at all. These visions carry a guarantee of truth undoubtedly with him who has experienced them, and their universality proves that they are facts of experience. The glimpses of the vision, as recorded by Yogindu, are of the nature of light or of white brilliance. Elsewhere too
1 We can have some idea about these details from Glasenappa's Die Lehre vom Karman
in der Philosophie der Jainas nach den Karmagranthas dargestellt, Leipzig 1915. 2 In works like Acărānga, Mülācāra, Bhagavati Aradhana etc.
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