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FOREWORD
xxi
the level of divine perfection. The pertinent question which occurs in this connection is: Why of all the souls which are similarly gifted a particular soul, and not every one, attains to this phase of perfection. Kaivalya is open to all, whether one is īśvara and possessed of vivekaja-jñāna or otherwise. So is Siddhi open to all, though the status of iśvara or tirthankara is reserved for a chosen few only. What the special qualifications of these few are and how they were originally acquired we do not know. The Jaina view seems to point to radical differences inherent in the souls in spite of their essential sameness of qualitative perfection. Apart from the basic difference due to bhavyatā in a soul there are other differences as well, which in fact tend to make each soul unique. The Christian and Mādhva views, together with similar ideas in other schools including Buddhism, point to a similar outlook. In Sankhya an attempt has been made to show that the path of aiśvarya at the beginning of a new cycle is consequent on apara-vairāgya minus vivekaja-jñāna in the earlier cycle, followed by a suspension of cosmic order in pralaya. This status of iśvara is that of käryeśvara, there being no provision in Kapila's system for a Supreme Being endowed with Divinity from eternity. In the Tantras also aišvarya ensues to a soul, which has purged itself from the shackles of karman and māyā but has not attained to sufficient maturity in mala-päka so as to bring down Divine Grace upon it and transform it into an īśvara, in the ensuing cosmic cycle, which is possible only on the attainment of the requisite maturity. The author says rightly that the inward tendency exists in every soul, but it is not awakened in each or not awakened at the same time in all. It may be that in some it is not awakened at all. This explains the difference in the starting point of spiritual evolution which commences with the awakening of this tendency and terminates with the attainment of Siddhi. Thus while the Siddhi is open to all awakened souls the status of tirthankara or World Teacher is reserved for a select few only. There are certain souls in which the spiritual evolution never takes place-not in the present cycle, nor even in the future. The yathāpravrttakarana, as explained, is a very interesting factor, which is conceived as an act of unconscious resolution (adhyavasāya) working within from the beginningless past or as a momentary act of selfpurification manifested as vairāgya. The life history of a soul consists mainly of four stages: (1) the embryonic stage in the nigoda, (2) the awakening of the inward tendency synchronizing with granthibheda, (3) the beginning of spiritual evolution marked by numerous gunasthānas, and (4) the perfection or Siddhi. Some souls do not come out into the evolutionary line at all, but those which come out are sure
1 etasyām avasthāyāṁ kaivalyam bhavati "śvarasyā 'nīśvarasya vā vivekajajñāna-bhägina itarasya vā—Bhâsya, YD, III. 55.
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