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THE PATH
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of worldly existence, the deluded state, how to be free from delusion, the virtue of self-introspection, the efficacy of discipline and penance for freeing oneself from the bondage of the karman, the nature of the universe, the value of true and right knowledge, and the bountifulness of the dharma.
These twelve bhāvanās or anuprekṣās and such other reflections, help one to keep straight on the path. A favourite recitation of the Jainas, on rising early in the morning and before going to bed at night, is the Bhāvanā-dvātrimśikā, also known as the Sāmāyika-pātha, which opens with the memobrable verse: “O Lord, May my Self be such that it may have love for all living beings, joy in the meritorious, unstinted sympathy and compassion for the distressed, and tolerance towards the perversely inclined." There are many other pieces which one may profitably recite and contemplate when he gets time. “Our life is what our thoughts make it,” says Marcus Aurelius, and “A man is what he thinks about all day along," says Emerson. So, the need is to improve one's thinking, and thinking with an end in view. Eleven Stages (Pratimās) When a householder feels confidant that he can undertake the preparation for the higher spiritual life of the ascetic, he resolves to initiate himself into the eleven stages (pratimās) which mark the development of the right conduct of a lay aspirant. He goes on, step by step, from one stage to the other, making gradual progress on the path. He does not, however, give up observance of the rules, prescribed for the preceding stage or stages, whilst advancing on to the succeeding ones. In the darśana-pratimā, which is the first of these eleven stages, the aspirant scrupulously observes all the practical aspects of samyag-darśana (right belief), including the adherence to its eight limbs (aştānga) and avoidance of its twenty-five defects or blemishes, the observance of the eight cardinal
