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liberation. He himself is furnished with Triratna (Three jewels). The position of the sādhu is lower than that. His function is to cultivate moral character capable of leading to emancipation (Mokşa) and is well furnished with faith and knowledge.
All this is for the earlier stages. In the end, the Ātmā alone is held to be the only object of meditation. At that time, the ten parigrahas and the fourteen inner obstacles which make the mind restless do no exist. In the highest meditation, the body does not function, nor the inind, nor even speech. Penance (Tapasyā) scriptural study (Śruta) and observance of vows (Vrata) are helpful to meditation.
It may be again emphasized that of the fourteen stages of spiritual life called Gunasthāna, the first one represents the condition of the average man. In this condition, the four psychological sources which dominate karman namely Mithyātva, Avirati, Kaşāya and Yoga referred to above continue to exist. This is in fact the basis on which the foundation of spiritual life is still built. Spiritual culture which pertains to the first stage helps the yogī to get rid of mithyātva altogether, so that in the subsequent stages mithyātva is no longer evident. This shows that the foundation of spiritual life is based upon a practical realisation of truthfulness in all its aspects. In the next four stages (from the 2nd to the fourth) mithyātva is absent altogether but Avirati, Kaşāya and Yoga survive. From the sixth spiritual stage upto the 10th, Avirati also disappears. In other words, both Mithyätva and Avirati are absent upto the tenth stagé. Kaşāya and yoga do exist even in these stages so that there is no freedom from karma even in the higher stages. In the three spiritual stages, from the eleventh upto the thirteenth, Kaşaya also is absent so that of the four basic stimuli to action, the first three are altogether absent in this thirteenth stage but even this stage is not free from karma which is initiated not by mithyātva or Avirati or kaņāya but only by yoga. The last stage, namely the fourteenth stage is characterized by an absence of yoga also so that this plane of life may be described as a total freedom from karma which is another name for mokșa and siddhi.
