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STAGES ON THE PATH,
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under subjecion. It follows from this that the best results can only flow from a system which scientifically deals with the subject of internal tapa, and that no method which ignores or minimises the importance of this most important department of self-training can ever be relied upon as a means for escape from the bondage of karmas. Applying these observations to the non-Jaina systems of tapa (yoga), it can be seen at a glance that. none of them is possessed of that scientific validity which alone can be depended upon for the realisation of the ideal in view. Indeed, almost all of them in the end leave the aspiring soul in the greatest uncertainty as to the effect of the practices enjoined and the exercises laid down by them; and even the more perfected systems of Hindu yoga-jñana yoga, raja yoga, bhakti yoga, hatha yoga and karma yoga-do little more. than point out the direction in which lies the way out of the samsára, intersected by paths that certainly do not lead to nirvana, but only to the four gatis, or conditions, of life. That the unwary traveller needs something more than a mere indication of the direction to pick out the right track is a matter which is not open to dispute; and the importance of accurate scientific knowledge is an absolute necessity where a single false step might prove one's undoing. The Jaina Siddhânta has throughout kept these principles in view in its schematic arrangement of the stages on the journey, and the intelligent tyro is merely required to make himself familiar with the nature of the karma prakritis to know precisely what to do at any particular moment of time in the course of his onward progress on the Path.
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