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CHAPTER VIII
STAGES ON THE PATH
From the nature of moksha and the means prescribed for its realization it is abundantly clear that the attainment of perfection is the culmination of a graduated course of training which must be followed step by step. The sages have, therefore, divided the path which leads to the Supreme Seat (nirvāna) into fourteen stages, each of which represents a particular state of development, condition or phase of the soul, arising from the quiescence, elimination, or partial quiescence and partial elimination of certain energies of karma, and the manifestation of those traits and attributes which are held in check by their activity. The names and characteristics of each of these fourteen stages, called gunasthānas, may be stated as follows:
(1) The first stage is called mithyātva which signifies ignorance, the normal condition of all unemancipated jīvas. The consciousness of the soul in this condition is obsessed with gross ignorance, and pure truth is not agreeable to it. Those who pass out of it are the lucky ones who, in consequence of their past good karmas, evolve out the desire to find a way to escape from the pain and misery of life in this world. When a man reaches this, the turning point in his life, he begins to meditate on the nature of the world and on his own relation with it, This results in a temporary quiescence of the first three energies of darsanamohaniya karma (Nos. 17, 18 and 19)* and the anantānubandhi type of anger, pride, deceit and greed (Nos. 20, 21, 22 and 23), producing what is called the prathamopasama-samyaktvama kind of faith which generally subsides, sooner or later, like the effervescence of aerated water. All cases of sudden conversion to truth are due to the quiescence of these seven energies of karmas.
* For a description of the karma prakritis referred to by numbers in this chapter Bee pp. 19–27 ante.
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