World Of Jainism

Author(s): Vishwanath Pandey
Publisher: Vishwanath Pandey

Page 84

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THE ORIENT
through different stages or stations (sthana) of successive spiritual progress. These stages of progress are marked by certain characteristics (guna).
It has been stated above that Jainism is a philosophy or religion which prepares man to master three-jewels of life, right belief (samyag-darsana), right conduct (samyag-carita) and right knowledge (samyag-jnana). These virtues are realized after a man destroys his karmas; this means a rigorous training of body and mind is absolutely necessary. The thoughts and emotions must be completely inhibited before one realizes ones real self. This process, known as gungsthana, consists of fourteen stages.
The first stage in this process is known as the stage of wrong view (mithya dristi). In this stage the soul, being full of wrong views, is at its bottom of progress. In this stage people are likely to be a prey to false religion and may not realize the significance of a true religion-for example, Jainism which is true. At the second stage of development (sasvasadana) the adept knows the distinction between true and false, but forgets about it. The third stage is the mixture of the above two (misra). In the fourth stage the soul develops some right vision, but it cannot maintain it since it is unable to follow the vows (avirati samyag dristi gunasthana). In the fifth stage the soul acquires partial abstinence. There are various degrees of perfection in this stage as is the case with other stages. In the sixth step of the ladder (pramatta gunasthana) passions are destroyed, but spiritual inertia remains which is destroyed in the next step (apramatta-samyata). In the eighth step the soul acquires purity more rapidly, and it experiences unprecedented joy (apurvakarna gunasthana). In this the power of meditation (dhyana) increases and the fetters of karmas become loose. According to liberal tradition in the Jainas, women can come upto this stage. The orthodox Digambaras believe that the women can attain only the first fifth stage of spiritual development. The ninth and the tenth stages refer to the state of inhibition of greed which becomes subtle (suksma) and is inhibited at the tenth stage, though not completely. "He who owns even a small property in living or lifeless things, or consents to other holding it, will not be delivered from misery". The eleventh stage (upasantamoha) refers to total suppression of passions. The twelfth step shows complete annihilation of all the karmas. This is the summit of the ladder of annihilation. In this stage develops the pure contemplation (shukladhyana). The thirteenth stage is marked by the development of wisdom or spiritual illumination. The adept acquires the three necessary qualifications, right faith, right knowledge and right conduct, and he becomes a Tirthankara. This stage is known as Sayogikevali and is, according to Dr. Tatia, equivalent
54. Sutrakritanga, I, 2, 55.