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MOKSHA
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(3) dharma dhyāna, that is meditation on the teaching of religion ;
and
(4) śukla dhyāna or the pure contemplation of one's own soul.
Of these, the first two forms are obviously evil, but the third leads to great felicity in the future re-birth of the soul (if any), and the last is the direct cause of moksha, that is freedom from the bondage of karmas and the turmoils of saṁsāra (transmigration).
Dharma dhyāna consists in thinking on the nature, condition and future prospects and possibilities of the soul, the method of Self-realisation, the form of final release, the attributes of a Siddhātman, and the like. The recitation and reading of the holy Scripture and śāstras, as well as of the biographies of saints and virtuous laymen, meditation on the different bhāvanās (reflections) and nature of tattras--jīva, ajīva and the like the worshipping of deified Souls and the reverence of those who have given up the world to lead the life of true asceticism are also forms of the dharma dhyāna.
There are the following types of religious meditation (dharma dhyāna):
(i) ajnā-vichaya, which is meditation with the aid of Scripture, (ii) apāya-vichaya, that is dwelling on the means for the destruc
tion of karmas, (iii) vipāka-vichaya which means reflecting on the effect of karmas,
and (iv) samsthāna-vichaya, or reflection on the nature of the universe
and the conditions of life prevailing therein. Both the layman and the ascetic derive material aid from religious meditation (dharma dhyāna), which, when intelligently practised, never fails to engender the spirit of true vairāgya (renunciation), in the soul, and prepares it for the practising of the sukla, i.e., the highest form of dhyāna.
Sukla dhyāna, in its purest form, signifies an unbroken contempla tion of one's own åtman (soul), and cannot be realised so long as the
