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As regards the formation of good or bad leshya, this too is indisputable. A man through his efforts can turn an inauspicious leshya into an auspicious one and auspicious leshya into more auspicious and the most auspicious. Various causes have their own importance in life. Good causes or factors are capable of changing an individual's environment, feeling and thought. Similarly bad causes or factors exercise their own influence. Thus, it may be said that whatever good happens in life, happens through good factors or good leshya and wherever impediments present themselves, it happens because of bad factors and inauspicious leshya. Purification of leshya leads to the memory of one's past life, to clairvoyance and the faculty of comprehending mental states; it also leads to the ascetic life.
Q. Apart from Jain philosophy, what other philosophies recognize leshya? In what form do they accept
it?
Ans. Whether the word 'leshya', is used by them or not, many philosophers have recognised the influence of colour on a man's life and have accepted its importance in the spiritual tradition. In this connection, Sankhya philosophy and Vedic philosophy are noteworthy. It seems that Patanjali, through the phrases, 'the dark type' and 'the white type' has represented these two kinds of leshya.
Similarly, in the background of the prayers prevalent among the Vedics, too, the doctrine of leshya is at work. According to the Puranic belief, the Vedic system of meditation is tri-coloured. In the three prayers held by them, they worship the trinity, Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. The colour of Brahma is recognised as white, that of Vishnu blue, and that of Mahesh red. According
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