________________
I G. Kalghatgi
The Jainas say that the soul is immaterial, consciousness and its states are also immaterial and colourless Colour is in matter, and matter certainly acts and reacts on the soul by the loflow and bondage (bandha) of the harmic matter due to passions and modification in the mental states
III The soul has the inherent capacity for self-realisation But self-realisa llon is a long process in the course of its eternal wanderings 10 various froma of evstence, the soul at some time gets an indistinct Vision and feels an impulse to realise il The soul has to go through the various stages of spiritual development These stages are called gunasthana, and they are linked up with stages of subsidence and destruction of the karmic veil These are fourteco stages of spiritual development The first stage is chara cterised by the presence of nuthyadisti (perversity of attitude) We accept wrong belief and are under the false impression that what we believe is right This is caused by the operation of muhyalua-karnan However, we are not entiri, berest of a vision, though indistinct, of the right Still, due to pervecsits of attitude we do not relish the truth, just as a man suffering from fevus has no taste for sugarcane 21
The next stage is called sasvadanasamyagdrsk It is a baltiog and transitory stage in which one may get the vision of truth but is likely to fall back on falsehood due to the excitement of passions In the third stage, of samyagmichvardust we have a mixed attitude of right and wrong belief There is neither a desire to have true belief nor a desire to remain in ignorance It is like miring curds and treacle 21
Next comes the stage of right attitude, samyagdrøft One gets a glimpse of the truth Yet one has not the spiritual strength to strive for the attajament of it In this stage we have attained knowledge, but we lack moral cffort, as we have not yet developed self-control From the next stage onwards there is gradual expression of self-control We may compare these four stages to the state of the persons 10 Plato's parable of the cave The prisoners in the cave would sce their own shadows and the shadows of other men and of animals And they would mistake the shadow for realities This is the stage of the atva If one were to be released, the glare of the light would distress him, and he would persist 10 maiotaining the superior truth of the shadows This is the stage of süspadang But once he gets accustomed to the change, he will be able to see things, and gaze upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled heavens And once he gets the clear vision, he will realize the folly of his fellow prisoners and pity them.99
21 Gominalasära-Ipakānda, 17 22 lbid p 22 23 llato The Pepublic VIII,
