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In this connection the importance of mantra received from the Guru is also emphasised. Meditation is natural. It is not due to any effort. The real object of this meditation is the Ātmā but in the earlier stages other objects also are included in it. For instance, in the beginning, there is an insistence on meditation upon five parameşthis (Pañca Para neşthis) but subsequently when the meditation becomes mature and stable, Ātmā alone should be kept as its object. The Pañca Parameşthis are Arhata, Siddha, Ācārya, Upādhyāya and Sadhu. These represent five stages of spiritual perfection in which the lowest rank is that of - Sadhu and the highest ladder is occupied by the Arhata. Excluding the Ātmā, the object of meditation in respect of the degree priority is the above-mentioned series of five Parameșthis from Siddha Puruşa to Sadhu. Siddhapuruşa according to Jaina philosophy is one who is altogether free from contact with the body produced from karma. He has direct vision and knowledge of the lokākāśa as well as the alokākāśa and is fixed eternally on the top of the mundane world rather on the top of the lokākāśa. It has the human form and is supposed to be almost the final form of the yogi. The state of an Arhata is lower. An arhata has an auspicious body which is perfectly pure and is free from four Ghātikarmas and is possessed of vision, felicity, knowledge, potency etc. As a matter of fact an arhata has really no body. He only appears to have one. This body is luminous but it is placed under the category of Audārika or physical." Though it is called physical and resembles the physical body of an ordinary man it is not similar to that body because it is nonmaterial and free from seven elements.
The state of an Ācārya is lower than that of an Arhata. Ācāra, Darśana, Jñāna, Căritra, tapas and virya characterize the Ācārya. The state of an Upadhyāya is lower than that of an Ācārya. The function of an Upādhyāya is always discourses on
1. A mundanc soul is said to be associated with five kinds of bodies namely
vaikriya, Aharaka, Taijasa and Karman besides Audārika.
