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STAGES OF SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT
169 ignorance and foolishness, then there is still pity for them that they should be thus ignorant. It is the duty of society to lessen the extent of suffering which exists among them.
5. Āstikya. It is the conviction that that only is the true dharma that has been taught by the Arhats, or persons in whom the 18 above named failings are absent. The conviction that only such a person can give a code of rules of life, Dravya-Bhāva And Vyavahāra-Niscaya
These two pairs of terms, which are terms of relationship, will be required later on, and their meaning is therefore given now, as follows:
Dravya means literally the material out of which a thing is made. For instance, clay which was going to be made into a teacup would be correctly called a dravya teacup. Mr. Smith, of London, if in his next incarnation were going to be a butcher, would be correctly called a dravya butcher. Krsna who is to be one of the future Arhats might have been correctly called a dravya Arhat while he was alive on earth. The previous state of the actual state is the dravya state. It always precedes the actual state in time. The actual teacup would be the bhāva teacup, the actual butcher would be the bhāva butcher, the actual Arhat would be the bhāva Arhat. The actual state is the bhāva state : the state going on, visible. It always comes after the dravya state.
Vyavahāra is related to the word niscaya. Vyavahāra prefixed to any state means the visible signs that you see. And it is necessary as illustration. Vyavahāra dharna, for instance, is the visible conduct of the man. It impresses upon the minds of people who see it, the truth of the conduct. The description which a man makes either for himself or to other people, of his Deva, of his Teacher, or of his rules of conduct, would be the vyavahāra deva, vyavahāra guru, vyavahāra dharma. Such description of devaship is like the peg on which, on acccount of weakness, the thoughts must be hung. Vyavahāra leads to niscaya. But still it does not necessarily precedes in time the niscaya.
Niscaya is the term related to vyavahāra. It is the real internal state that ought to accompany the vyavahăra acts. For instance,
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