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152
Study of Civakacintamani
The arta dhyāna and rudra dhyāna do not help an aspirant to attain salvation, instead they give bad results and these two are only found in the soul up to the fifth gupasthāna.
The dharma and śukla dhyāna lead the soul to liberation. By performing dharma dhyāna the soul burns away all the eight karmas and attains the four infinite qualities. While observing dharma, dhyāna the ascetic should feel that his body is different and he should give up all his attachments to his body. Dharma dhyāna leads the soul to heavenly pleasures and indirectly to liberation. The difference between dharma-dhyāna and sukla-dhyāna is as Bhargava says, “in dharmadhyāna, the consciousness of the distinction between subject and object of knowlege persists; whereas in sukla dhyāna all conceptual thinking ceases gradually ”. 2
With the help of śukla-dhyāna the soul finally leaves the body and attains liberation.
Now, we shall see how the soul progresses towards salvation from the sixth guṇasthana, the pramatta-samyata guṇasthāna, where the ascetic life starts.
In the sixth stage, though the ascetic observes complete restraint, still he is open to such negligence such as pride, enjoyment of senses, passions and sleep. In the four gunasthānas starting from the fourth gunasthāna, avirata-samyagdrsti guņasthāna, the soul destroys the four anantānubandhi kaşayas (anantānubandhikrodha, anantānu. bandbi māna, anantānubandhs māya, and anantānubandhi lobha) and the three darśana mohaniya karmas (mithyātva karma, samyagmithyātva karma and samyaktva karma). From the seventh guṇastbāna, the apramatta-samyata guṇasthāna, when the soul ascends to the next guṇasthāna, the apūrva-karana guṇasthāna, it ascends to either the kşapaka sreņi or the upašama sreņi. These two, the kşapaka sreni and the upasama sreņi, are two spiritual ladders which help the soul to either destroy all the karmas or to subside them.
If a soul ascends upasama śreņi it could only subside its karmas and it cannot attain the highest state, the mokşa, for, the subsided karmas once disturbed come up to the surface and hence the soul falls from the height of spirituality it has reached. Even if the soul suc:eeds in following the upašama sreņi it cannot climb beyond the eleventh gunastāna which is the highest guṇastāna for the soul which follows upasama śreņi. If a soul follows ksapaka śreni it can climb up to the highest goal, the mokşa, by annihilating all its karmas.
As in the Cc. Civakan follows the kşapaka śreņi, we here explain the progress of a soul which follows kşapaka sreņi. The soul which has ascended on the kşapaka sreni to the eighth gunasthāna reaches the next gunasthana, the anivetti - badarasamparāya gunasthāna. In this stage the soul first destroys the following sixteen 1 Bhargava, op.cit. p. 202 2 Ibid, p. 202
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