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The Path of Arhat : A Religious Democracy
The soul has connection with the body as it is still in human form, but all other connection, all other attachment has gone away. This is the condition of a real Vitara ga', one whose all sorts of attachments (Rägas) have disappeared ( Vita means disappearance ).
Stage 14 : Ayogi Kevali — Now the body connection is also gone. This happens when the Sayogi Kevali of the previous stage 'dies'. The last formal tie was of body. That tie is dissolved by 'death'. The soul now gets the stage of final consumation -- a bodyless, existence of pure consciousness and bliss-the stage of Siddhahood, the stage from where one never returns to earthly existence when all the problems of birth, death and rebirth come to an end.
This is a short story of journey to freedom. The journey is not only long and arduous but is also full of pains, pleasures, hopes, dispairs and conflicts. Broadly speaking, in the first four stages the soul is struggling against wrong belief which is overcome in the fifth stage where righteous conduct begins. In the sixth stage he is still liable to lapses and negligence, as the required vigilence is not from moment to moment. When the self enters the seventh stage, it is ready to shed its accumulated karmas. From 8th stage onwards he proceeds with powerful force but so long as the Mohaniya Karma (i, e., Karma arising from attachments ) is not totally destroyed there is likely-hood of a fall. But the fall is only temporary and practically the whole journey is over when the soul reaches 12th and 13th stages. Thus the entire spiritual career comes to an end, and it is the end of all pains and pleasures of life. Buddha based his whole philosophical structure on the premise that life is painful. Mahāvíra also believed that life is painful and the effort of every soul is to be finally free from this pain and to obtain permanent bliss.
A question arises in the mind of every thoughtful person, when he nears the end of this physical existence, whether the life which he lived was worth living, what was the purpose of
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