The Heart of Jainism/Chapter 8

by Alice Margaret Sinclair Stevenson

CHAPTER VIII

KARMA AND THE PATH TO LIBERATION

In our survey of the Nine Fundamental Categories of the Jaina faith we saw that the thought of karma—the energy accumulated by action—underlay them all, that five of them were concerned entirely with either the acquisition, prevention, impeding, or destruction of karma, and two others dealt with bondage to it or freedom from it. That seven out of the nine principles should be thus apportioned shows the enormous importance Jaina, in common with all other Indians, attach to karma. For them it is the key that solves all the riddles of this unintelligible world. Is a man born a cripple? It is owing to his karma. Are Indian immigrants badly treated in South Africa and made to live in special locations? It is owing to the evil karma they themselves acquired when they oppressed the outcasts, and compelled them to live apart from their fellow men.

If a man plead that he personally never thus ill-treated his brother, the doctrine of Transmigration, the undivorceable spouse of karma, is brought in, and he is assured that he must have done so in some previous existence. Nothing is more extraordinary in Indian thought than the way in which the unproved doctrine of karma has been universally accepted as an axiom.

The root of the word karma is, the Jaina tells us, the verb kṛi (to do), and they believe it to be the result of actions springing from four sources.

The four sources of karma.The first source of karma is Avirati, or attachment to the things of this life such as food, raiment, lodging, women, or jewels. The unlimited use and enjoyment of any of these gives rise to karma, and the more one limits one’s indulgence in them, the less karma one acquires. Karma is also engendered by giving the rein to anger, pride, deceit, or greed (Kaṣāya), or any of their sixteen divisions, or the nine Nokaṣāya. Karma is again produced by uniting one’s body, mind and speech to worldly things (Yoga); and lastly, Mithyātva, or false belief, is a fruitful source of karma.

The nine ways of arresting karma.Karma can be arrested by not using one’s own mind, body, or speech; by being careful not to cause any one karma, else to use their mind, body, or speech; and by never approving, or in any other way associating oneself with what another does by mind, body, or speech. That is to say, by never oneself doing any work, however useful or noble; never influencing any one else to do any such work; and never praising any work when done. ‘As heat can unite with iron’, say the Jaina, ‘and water with milk, so karma unites with the soul, and the soul so united with karma is called a soul in bondage.’

Differing views of karma.We have already seen that it is the inequalities of life and the desire to account for them that have given the Jaina so firm a faith in karma; to prove that the same belief is shared by others they quote a Buddhist śloka, in which a beggar says:

‘In the prime of life I am deprived of all virility, my leg is injured, and I am a beggar. All this is the result of my karma.’

The Jaina, however, say that they differ from the Hindus in two main points. The Hindus, according to them, believe,^[1] that God (Parameśvara) inflicts punishment for evil karma just as a judge inflicts the penalties prescribed by the law. On the other hand, the Jaina, who do not believe in a Supreme God who takes any active part in the world’s governance, declare that karma accumulates energy and automatically works it off, without any outside intervention.

The other point of difference they lay stress on is that while Hindus think of karma as formless (amūrta), Jaina believe karma to have shape, and to prove this they argue that karma cannot be formless, because formless things can do us neither good nor harm. The sky, they say, like space, is shapeless, and that does us neither evil nor good; but as karma, according to its origin, does inflict hurt or benefit, it must have a form!

To further understand karma we may look at it as easy or difficult to expiate. A scarf may accumulate dust that can be easily shaken off, but if it should get stained with oil it will need much washing; so, according to its nature, some karma is got rid of easily, but some only with great difficulty. As heat is latent in wood, oil in sesame seeds, and ghī in milk, so karma is latent in all actions.^[2] Some people ask when karma attaches itself to the soul; this no one knows, but the Jaina say the important thing is not so much to know when the two were united, but how they may be separated; for, just as when gold is found in the earth, the important matter is not to inquire how it became impure, but to free it by heat (representing austerities) from the clay and impurities which cling to it, so in the spiritual sphere, when the presence of karma is detected, the great thing is to free the soul from it.

There is also a difference between Hindus and Jaina with regard to the remembrance of karma. Some Hindus believe that it is owing to Māyā (illusion) that all remembrance of the deeds done in previous births, which led to the accumulation of karma, is forgotten; but Jaina hold that it is owing to Ajñāna (ignorance), and when the soul by means of austerities and good actions has got rid of Ajñāna, it attains omniscience and remembers all the births it has undergone and all that happened in them.

The Jaina divide karma according to its nature, duration, essence and content, quoting the following śloka:

‘These are the four parts of karma: its nature, that is, its character; its condition, that is, the time it will last; its constitution, that is called its essence; its scope, or the whole of its content.’

As long as the jīva or ātmā is fettered by karma, so long must it undergo rebirth, and it must be remembered that karma is acquired through good as well as through evil actions. If the karma accumulated in the past life was evil, the soul is bound to the cycle of rebirth by iron fetters, if good, by golden chains, but in either case it is bound, and until the karma is worked out, it must be reborn again and again.

Karma is intimately bound up with the soul; accordingly, when the jīva leaves one body, the weight of its karma draws it irresistibly to another gati (state), and there it forms round itself another body. Only when the soul is freed from good and bad karma alike can it attain the highest state and become a Siddha.

Here we notice another point of difference from common Hindu thought: the Jaina believe that once an ātmā has attained the highest state, it is absolutely indifferent to what is taking place on earth, and will never again undergo rebirth; so that the Hindu idea of incarnation in order to help mankind is quite foreign to the Jaina, and they could never use the famous śloka:

‘O Bhārata (Arjuna), whenever there comes a decline of faith and irreligion uprises, then I will take birth. In every age for the protection of the good, the destruction of the wicked, and the establishment of faith I become incarnate.’ Bhagavadgītā, iv. 7, 8.

The Eight Kinds of Karma.

We have discussed various kinds of karma as we have worked laboriously through the long lists of divisions and subdivisions under which the Jaina classify the tenets of their faith; but it will probably make for clearness if, in studying the most popular way of classifying this important doctrine of karma, we begin as it were de novo and divide the subject afresh under the eight headings which the Jaina themselves most frequently quote.^[3]

i. Jñānāvaraṇīya karma.The first kind of karma is that which hides knowledge from us. As a bandage bound across our eyes prevents us from seeing, so does Jñānāvaraṇīya karma prevent our receiving mental illumination for innumerable oceans of time. It is divided into eight classes: first Matijñānāvaraṇīya, which prevents our making a right use of our conscience and intellect; this again is subdivided into Utādtikī, which hinders the power of spontaneous thought; Vainayikī, the karma which prevents our getting those powers which are obtained by showing deference to our elders; Pāriṇāmikī, by which we are hindered from gaining any benefit or knowledge from experience; and lastly Kāmikī,^[4] a karma which impedes our obtaining any intellectual stimulus from memories of the past or from hope for the future. Perhaps these are nearly sufficient for our purpose, as showing how completely karma can prevent our gaining knowledge; but the Nandī Sūtra goes into the subject at great length, and discusses twenty-eight other minor ways in which Matijñānāvaraṇīya karma may impede learning. It is important also to note the other kinds of Jñānāvaraṇīya karma, which prevent our getting any knowledge from reading the sacred books (Śrutajñānāvaraṇīya); or never allow us to know what is passing in the minds of others (Manaḥparyāyajñānāvaraṇīya); or what is happening at a distance (Avadhijñānāvaraṇīya); and lastly prevent our ever attaining omniscience (Kevalajñānāvaraṇīya). But Jñānāvaraṇīya karma not only impedes us in gaining true knowledge and sound learning, but actually gives rise to false and hurtful knowledge and misuse of the intellectual powers. For instance, weapons are invented which eventually kill people owing to Mati ajñāna, or the misuse of the intelligence; again the knowledge gained through reading the scriptures may be misunderstood or misapplied (Śruta ajñāna), and this might lead to the practice of bhakti (devotion to a personal god) or to obscenity; or karma may hinder and falsify all spiritual insight (Vibhaṅga jñāna) as well as physical sight. All this obstruction to knowledge and gaining of false knowledge can be traced back to a former life in which the jīva has been jealous of another’s knowledge, or has failed to help another to gain knowledge, or has actually tried to prevent any one from gaining knowledge by employing them in ways which left no time for study, thus acquiring this evil karma.

ii. Darśanāvaraṇīya karma.The second of the eight great divisions of karma is Darśanāvaraṇīya, the karma which prevents our beholding the true faith. As a door-keeper may prevent our getting into the presence of a chief, or a peon hinder our gaining access to an English official,^[5] so Darśanāvaraṇīya karma may prevent our ever seeing the true faith, however much we may long to follow it. There are nine divisions of Darśanāvaraṇīya karma which we have already studied. It affects those jīva which in a previous birth have acquired evil karma by showing want of reverence to sacred books or to saints, or by hindering those who would like to believe in Jainism, or by imputing faults to Tīrthaṅkara, or by manifesting ill feeling to other religions.

iii. Vedanīya karma.Vedanīya karma, the third of the great divisions, causes us to experience either the sweetness of happiness or the bitterness of misery.^[6] The Jaina think of this life as resembling two sides of a sword, the one smeared with honey and the other with opium, and it is Vedanīya karma which determines which side we taste. Śātavedanīya is the karma that leads to happiness, and Aśātavedanīya that which produces the reverse. One ensures happiness, or Śātavedanīya karma, by showing reverence to our superiors and serving them, by extending forgiveness and mercy to any who have injured us, and by straightforward dealings with all mankind. But one must remember that good no less than evil karma has to be ‘worked off’ before one can go to mokṣa, and that though it is well to do good, it is better to do nothing at all after one has reached a certain stage in development, for karma lurks in all action. It may perhaps be owing to the influence of this belief, so inimical to anything like public spirit, that the Jaina have shown such apathy during the famines that from time to time have devastated India. They have a saying that one needs the ship of good deeds or puṇya to go from one harbour to another, but after reaching the harbour the ship is no longer needed; meditation alone will transport us to our native village or mokṣa.

iv. Mohanīya karma.Just as wine, say the Jaina, prevents a man speaking or thinking clearly, so does Mohanīya, the fourth and most dreaded karma, bemuse all the faculties. It results, generally speaking, from worldly attachments and indulgence of the passions, but each of the twenty-eight divisions of Mohanīya karma springs from some special cause. We have already (fortunately for the reader!) discussed most of these divisions, and only a few remain. The first of these, Mithyātvamohanīya karma, induces a man to believe good things to be unwholesome, or falsehoods to be true, just as a patient who is delirious often longs for harmful things and declines health-giving food; another type of this karma, Miśramohanīya karma, forces us to vacillate, resting our faith sometimes on what is true and sometimes on what is false; while, owing to Samyaktvamohanīya karma, though we know which faith is true, we cannot attain to full devotion and consecration to it. The Jaina liken the influence of these three classes of Mohanīya karma to the results arising from taking the grain Kodaro. If this grain be eaten without any preparation, it causes the most intense giddiness such as quite to bewilder the eater. Such is the effect of Mithyātva; if the husk of the grain be removed, the result is less stupefying and resembles that of Miśra; whereas, if the grain be thoroughly cleansed, the occasional slight uneasiness it may cause is comparable to Samyaktva. Another karma, Darśanamohanīya karma, arises from taking life in the name of religion (as Hindus and Mohammedans do when they slay goats at their religious festivals), or from misappropriating funds or falsifying true religion. Again, taking part in state intrigues, acting immorally, administering evil medicines, spreading false superstitions and giving full play to all the passions give rise to Ċāritramohanīya karma. Only when Mohanīya karma, the greatest of them all, is extinguished, can the soul reach mokṣa.

v. Āyu karma.The fifth great division, Āyu karma, determines the length of time which a jīva must spend in the form with which his karma has endowed him, for not only the prison but also the term of imprisonment varies according to the weight of karma acquired. There are four divisions of this karma, one of which (Deva āyu karma^[7]) decides how long a jīva who has become a god^[8] shall remain one. The Jaina believe in four classes of gods: those who inhabit the planets (Jyotiṣī), evil ghost-gods (Vyantara), gods who travel in the celestial car (Vaimānika), and lastly Bhavanapati, the lords of the lower regions, who inhabit the space above hell. Each of these gods has a different āyu or term to serve.

Another branch of Āyu karma determines how long a jīva can wear a human form (Manuṣya āyu karma^[9]). There are two classes of human beings on this earth, those who live in the land where work is done (Karmabhūmi^[10]) and who exercise themselves in warfare (asi), in commerce, religion, or writing (masi), or in agriculture (kasi); and those who live in the land where no such work is done (Akarmabhūmi), but where all needs are supplied by the ten kinds of desire-fulfilling trees; both classes of men only hold their position for the length of time their Manuṣya āyu karma determines. Again Āyu karma decides how long a jīva can be forced to inhabit the form of an insect, a bird, or a lower animal (Tiryañċ āyu karma^[11]).

The fourth division of Āyu karma determines the period for which a jīva must dwell in one of the seven hells (Naraka āyu karma^[12]).

The comforting thing about all four divisions of Āyu karma is that it can never be accumulated to last beyond one re-incarnation, and that it can be acquired only once in one’s life, generally at the period when about a third of life remains. It is accumulated in the following ways: a man wins Deva āyu karma, which will keep him in the position of a god for a certain time, by straightforward dealing, by avoiding anger, pride and greed, and by practising celibacy. In the same way, by being always gentle and honourable and checking all tendency to anger, pride and greed, a jīva gains the privilege of being a man for a period that varies according to his past virtue (Manuṣya āyu karma), and also enters a state in which he understands which gurus and gods are true and which books reliable, and in obedience to them he protects all life and follows the dictates of the Jaina religion. But a man who gives way to craftiness and intrigue will be sentenced to pass some of his next life as a bird or beast (Tiryañċ āyu karma); another by indulging in any of the following sins: gambling, drinking intoxicants, eating flesh, unchastity, thieving, or hunting, is determining the time he will pass in hell (Naraka āyu karma).

vi. Nāma karma.In studying Āyu karma we have seen that a jīva may be sentenced to spend a certain time as a man, a god, an insect, or a hell-being. Each of these four states or conditions is called gati, and it is according to our past deeds that we are born in the Manuṣya gati, Deva gati, Tiryañċ gati, or Naraka gati, the karma that decides which of these four shall be our particular gati, i.e. in which prison we shall dwell, being called Nāma karma.^[13] There are one hundred and three divisions of Nāma karma, many of which we have already discussed when we were studying the categories of Pāpa and Puṇya.

vii. Gotra karma.An Indian’s whole life, his occupation, the locality in which he may live, his marriage, his religious observances and even his food and fellow diners are determined by the caste into which he is born; so that it is small wonder if a Jaina attach the greatest importance to the accumulation of Gotra karma, which, as he believes, determines his caste in his next and subsequent lives. There are two main divisions of this karma: it decides whether the jīva shall be born in a high- or in a low-caste family. Pride is one of the chief factors in determining a man’s future caste: if he indulge in pride about his high caste, his form, his learning, his family, his fame, his strength, his success in commerce, or his austerities, he is laying up the inauspicious Gotra karma which will surely cause him to be born in a low-caste and despised family in the next life; if on the other hand he sternly curbs his conceit and that constant criticizing and censuring of others which is the surest proof of pride, and also in every possible way takes care of animals, then birth into a high caste will be his reward.

viii. Antarāya karma.All of us have been bewildered by the ineffectiveness of some people; they seem to have everything in their favour and yet they muddle away every opportunity that life offers them. The Jaina find the answer to this puzzle in their belief in Antarāya karma, the karma that always hinders. If we are wealthy and so generous that we long to revel in the keen joy of giving, and yet never do give, we know that in a past life we accumulated the karma that prevents giving (Dānāntarāya karma). If we realize the profit that is sure to follow a certain course of action, and yet we never act on this realization, we must have accumulated Lābhāntarāya karma. If in spite of our wealth we never really enjoy our possessions or our luxuries, either continuously or even for an instant, the cause is either Bhogāntarāya or Upabhogāntarāya karma. The last hindering karma (Vīryāntarāya karma) prevents our using our will or our bodily strength as we should like to do. The convenience of this belief is obvious. Life in India is for Indians, as it is for Europeans, a constant and unending fight against slackness, in which Europeans have the advantage of periodic visits to a cool climate to brace their moral as well as their physical fibre, and have also a tonic belief in the dignity of work and the gospel of exercise. Jaina have none of these advantages, but recline on the enervating doctrine of Antarāya karma, which provides those of them who are lazy with an excuse for every sort of inertia.

The Arrangement of the Eight Karma.

The Jaina have a special reason for the way they arrange the eight karma: they say that the first thing necessary is knowledge (jñāna); without this we cannot behold the true faith (darśana); if we possess both knowledge and faith, we are indifferent to pain or pleasure (vedanīya); mohanīya follows, because through pleasure or fear of pain we may become entangled in worldly attachments; that is the chief cause which determines the length of each imprisonment (āyu); when this has been determined, there still remains to be decided the state in which we shall be imprisoned (nāma); on that again depends the caste and family (gotra); and a man’s caste and family are after all either his greatest help or his greatest hindrance (antarāya).

Ghātin and Aghātin Karma.

The eight karma are also classified into the Ghātin karma, which can only be destroyed with great labour, and which include Jñānāvaraṇīya, Darśanāvaraṇīya, Mohanīya and Antarāya karma: and the Aghātin karma, namely Vedanīya, Āyu, Nāma and Gotra karma, which, important as their results are, can yet be more easily destroyed. The Jaina say that if the Ghātin are once burnt up in the burning glow of austerities (tapa), the Aghātin can be snapped as easily as a piece of burnt string.^[14]

Three Tenses of Karma.

The Jaina also divide karma according to the period when it was acquired, is being experienced, or will be experienced. The karma which we accumulated in past lives they call Sattā; that which we are even now in this present life sowing, and of which we shall reap the harvest in a future life, is named Bandha; and the karma whose fruits, good or evil, are now ripening and being experienced is Udaya.^[15] The Jaina illustrate these three divisions of karma by the three stages the water in a well passes through. When the water is in the well, they liken it to Sattā karma; when it is in the leathern bucket that draws it up from the depths of the well, to Bandha karma, and as it flows along to the plants, to Udaya karma.

Nikāċita and Śithila karma.The whole teaching of Jainism on karma would lead to fatalism of the most mischievous kind, were it not for the belief that there are two great types of karma. One type, Nikāċita karma, we have stored up for ourselves and we are bound to experience; but a ray of hope comes through the existence of Śithila karma, or that destiny which we may by extraordinary exertions evade. Only the Kevalī know to which class a mortal’s karma has been assigned, so that every man is left free to hope that he may by present exertion escape some of the suffering he has earned in his past history. It was probably seeing the tragic effect of absolute fatalism on Gośāla which led Mahāvīra to incorporate this tenet into the body of his doctrine.

The Fourteen Steps to Liberation from Karma.

So long as the soul is bound by karma, it can never attain deliverance, but the Jaina believe that there is a ladder of fourteen steps (Ċauda Guṇasthānaka^[16]) by which a jīva may mount to mokṣa.

i. Mithyātva guṇasthānaka.The Jaina believe that the soul while on the first step (Mithyātva guṇasthānaka) is completely under the influence of karma, and knows nothing of the truth. There are two divisions of this step: when a soul is on the lower (Vyaktamithyātva guṇasthānaka), other people can see that it is mistaking false religion for the true faith; when one has advanced to the slightly higher step (Avyaktamithyātva guṇasthānaka), though one may continue in this mistake, one is not doing it so unhesitatingly as to be obvious to others. Just as taking an intoxicating drug prevents one’s distinguishing white from yellow, so a soul on this step makes mistakes. A Jaina śloka says:

‘As a man blind from birth is not able to say what is ugly and what is beautiful, a man on the Mithyātva guṇasthānaka cannot determine what is real and what is false.’

ii. Sāśvāsadana guṇasthānaka.The soul, whirled round and round in the cycle of rebirth, loses some of its crudeness and ignorance, and attains to the state (called Granthibheda) when it begins to distinguish a little between what is false and what is true; unfortunately, it next moves into the state (named Upaśama saṅkita) when, though it knows there is a distinction, it forgets it, and so is not able to put it into practice; but when some faint remembrance comes back, it has arrived at the second step {Sāśvāsadana^[17] guṇasthānaka) of the stairs to mokṣa. The Jaina say that Upaśama saṅkita resembles fire hidden under ashes, for though a man’s bad qualities may be hidden and under control for a long time, they are bound to blaze out at last,

iii. Miśra guṇasthānaka.A soul mounts to the third step (Miśra guṇasthānaka) is in an uncertain condition, one moment knowing the truth and the next doubting it. It is like the mixture formed by stirring together curds and sugar to make the sweetmeat called śrīkhaṇḍa, which is half sour and half sweet. No one will die in this mixed condition, but will either slip back to the second step or proceed onward to the fourth.

iv. Aviratisamyagdṛiṣṭi guṇasthānaka.The man at the fourth stage, Aviratisamyagdṛiṣṭi guṇasthānaka, has either through the influence of his past good karma, or by the teaching of his guru, obtained true faith. A famous śloka runs :

‘Liking for principles preached by Jina is called true faith, it is derived either from nature or from knowledge given by the guru.’

The soul is still unable to take those vows which help in the fight against karma (which we shall discuss in the next chapter) and so the step is called Avirati. He can now, if he likes, control anger, pride and greed and three branches of Mohanīya karma (Mithyātva, Miśra, and Samyaktva), and it is a very dangerous thing not to destroy all of them, for they may lead to a man’s falling back to the second step. Whilst on this fourth step, the jīva gains five good things: the power of curbing anger (Śama); the realization that the world is evil, and that since it is a place in which one has to reap the fruits of one's own karma, one need have little affection for it (Śamavega^[18]); he also realizes that his wife and children do not belong to him (Nirveda); and that he must try and relieve any one who is in trouble (Anukampā); and lastly he gains complete faith in all the victorious Jina (Āsthā). We have seen that the distinguishing mark of this stage is that a man does not yet take the vows; he may wish to do so, but though he has destroyed excessive anger, pride and greed, he has not yet entirely escaped from their influence.

v. Deśavirati guṇasthānaka, or Saṁyatāsaṁyata guṇasthānaka.The fifth step, Deśavirati^[19] guṇasthānaka, or the step of merit, as it is often called, is specially interesting, for up till now faith has been the chief point that has exercised the thoughts of the climber, but now he realizes the great importance of conduct, and so can take the twelve vows which, as we shall see, deal largely with questions of behaviour. The step has three parts. First (Jaghanya deśavirati), a man promises not to drink intoxicants or to eat flesh, and he constantly repeats the Māgadhī salutation to the Five Great Ones (Pañċa Parameśvara): ‘A bow to Arihanta, a bow to Siddha, a bow to Āċārya, a bow to Upādhyāya, a bow to all the Sādhus of this world.’ Then, though still on the fifth step, he may advance a little higher on it (Madhyama deśavirati) and, keeping all the twelve vows, take special care only to make money in righteous ways. Every day he should be very careful to keep the six rules for daily life, which are described in a well-known śloka:

‘One must worship God, serve the guru, study the scriptures, control the senses, perform austerities and give alms.’

Thirdly, while still on this step, he may advance to Utkṛiṣṭa deśavirati, eating only once a day, maintaining absolute chastity, resigning the society even of his own wife, eating nothing that possesses even one life, and finally forming the determination to become a sādhu. This is the highest step that a layman can reach as such, for if it be successfully surmounted, he will become a sādhu.

At this stage, too, moderate anger, deceit, pride and greed are controlled and sometimes destroyed.

vi. Pramatta guṇasthānaka.We now come to the sixth step on the ladder, Pramatta guṇasthānaka, which can only be ascended by the professed ascetic. Even slight passions are now controlled or destroyed, and only certain negligences (Pramāda) remain.

‘These five Pramāda: Pride, Enjoyment of the senses, Kaṣāya, Sleep and Gossip, torment the soul in this world’

runs a Māgadhī śloka, and the Jaina believe that if a soul is to mount the next step, he must never indulge any of these for more than forty-eight minutes at a time; if he does, he will not mount, but on the contrary will descend to the lowest step of all.

vii. Apramatta guṇasthānaka.At the seventh step, Apramatta guṇasthānaka, anger is either absolutely quiescent or actually destroyed, and only in a slight degree do pride, deceit and greed remain. The soul's power of meditation increases, for the bad qualities which lead to sleep are absent, and lastly one is freed from all negligence.

viii. Niyatibādara (or Apūrvakaraṇa) guṇasthānaka.Among the Digambara some say that women can only mount as high as the fifth stage; others believe they can reach the eighth step, which is called Niyatibādara guṇasthānaka. It is also called the Apūrvakaraṇa, because the man who has his foot on this stair experiences such joy as he has never known before in all his life. As anger disappeared on the seventh step, so does pride now, either temporarily or for ever. A man at this stage increases his powers of meditation by Yoga, and the fetters of karma are fast becoming unloosed; in fact so elevated is this step, and so few attain to it, that it is also called ‘the Unique’.

ix. Aniyatibādara guṇasthānaka.It is interesting to notice that the Jaina think it easier to get rid of anger than of pride, and that deceit does not disappear till the man has reached the ninth step (Aniyatibādara guṇasthānaka), whilst greed persists longer than any of the other Kaṣāya; any one who has watched the characters of Indians develop and improve would acknowledge how extraordinarily true this psychological succession is. Not only does the man attain freedom from deceit at this stage, but he becomes practically sexless. One great difficulty still persists, for he is haunted by the memories of what he did and saw before he became an ascetic.

x. Sūkṣmasamparāya guṇasthānaka.The description of the tenth step, Sūkṣmasamparāya guṇasthānaka, emphasizes the enormous difference between the Jaina and the Christian notions of asceticism, for this stage is only reached by the advanced ascetic, who thereupon loses all sense of humour, all pleasure in beauty of sound or form, and all perception of pain, fear, grief, disgust and smells. One contrasts with this a certain Cowley father’s saying about ‘the sheer fun it was to be a Christian’; and many devout Christians tell us that, having made the great renunciation, they have found almost unexpectedly that the surrender of worldly ambition and the wire-pulling it entails has endowed them with an entirely new appreciation of the beauty of nature, the treasures of art and the joy of living, besides giving them a deeper power of suffering with others. In short, Christian asceticism is a development of personality, whilst Jaina asceticism amounts to self-stultification.

Some slight degree of greed still remains to the Jaina ascetic who has reached this stage. It must be remembered that the Jaina sādhu generally comes from the commercial class, and often from a money-lender’s family. This helps us to understand how difficult some ascetics find it to get rid of greed, and, whilst professing to give up everything, contrive by hook or crook to retain their fortune, sometimes, as we have noted, even keeping it in paper money hidden on their persons, to the great disgust of their fellow Jaina. Those who manage absolutely to destroy every trace of greed will pass straight to the twelfth stage, whilst others have to pause at the eleventh.

xi. Upaśāntamoha guṇasthānaka.When a man has attained to the eleventh stage, Upaśāntamoha guṇasthānaka, he has reached a really critical point, where everything depends on how he deals with the sin of greed. If he destroys it, and it becomes quite extinct, he is safe; but if it only remains quiescent, he is in a perilous state, for, like a flood, it may at any moment burst its dam, and the force of its current may carry the soul far down the slope he has been climbing, depositing him on either the sixth or seventh step, or even on the lowest. On the other hand, if he deal successfully with greed, he becomes an Anuttaravāsī Deva and knows that he will become a Siddha after he has undergone one more rebirth as a man.

xii. Kṣīṇamoha guṇasthānaka.If a man be on the twelfth step, Kṣīṇamoha guṇasthānaka, he has won freedom for ever not only from greed but from all the ghātin karma,^[20] and though the aghātin karma^[21] still persist, they have little power to bind the soul: in fact, so limited is their power, that at death a soul passes at once through the two remaining stages and enters mokṣa without delay. The Digambara believe that at this stage the first two parts of pure contemplation (Sukladhyāna) are developed.

xiii. Sayogikevalī guṇasthānaka.If a man who reaches the stage of Sayogikevalī guṇasthānaka preaches, and forms a community or tīrtha, he becomes a Tīrthaṅkara. He first (according to the Digambara) obtains ‘eternal wisdom, illimitable insight, everlasting happiness and unbounded prowess’. When this absolute knowledge is acquired, Indra, Kubera^[22] and other heavenly beings, including the celestial engineer, Vaiśramaṇa, raise the Samavasaraṇa (or heavenly pavilion) where the twelve conferences meet to hear eternal wisdom from the Kevalī. After prayers have been offered, the Kevalī goes about preaching truth, until, when the day of deliverance approaches, he takes to the third part of pure contemplation (Śukladhyāna). Here the soul reaches every part of the universe and is yet contained within the body, though its only connexion with it now is residence. The last part of contemplation follows when the fourteenth step is ascended, and the body disappears like burnt camphor. This is Nirvāṇa.^[23]

Before proceeding, however, to discuss the fourteenth step, we may quote the famous śloka that describes the pomp of a Tīrthaṅkara:

‘The tree of Aśoka, the shower of celestial flowers, the singing of heavenly songs, the waving of fly whisks, the lion-shaped throne, the shining of the halo, the beating of celestial kettle-drums, the umbrella, all these eight things attend the Tīrthaṅkara.’

As we have seen, it is the Tīrthaṅkara, the man at this thirteenth stage, that the people worship; for once he passes to the next step, he loses all interest in people, besides parting with his own body. The Siddha alone know exactly where every one is on the heavenward road, but they have lost all interest in the question.

xiv. Ayogikevalī guṇasthānaka.The moment a man reaches the fourteenth stage, Ayogikevalī guṇasthānaka, all his karma is purged away, and he proceeds at once to mokṣa as a Siddha (for no one can remain alive on this step). In mokṣa there is of course no absorption into the infinite, but the freed soul dwells for ever above the land called Siddhaśīlā, from whence it returns no more, and this is mokṣa.

There ‘innumerable delivered souls exist and are to be there for ages that never were begun and which never close’. A śloka describes the qualities of the Siddha thus:

‘Omniscience, boundless vision, illimitable righteousness, infinite strength, perfect bliss, indestructibility, existence without form, a body that is neither light nor heavy, such are the characteristics of the Siddha.’

As a soul passes from stage to stage, it gains the three jewels,^[24] and the possession of these ensures the attainment of mokṣa.

The writer was recently discussing these fourteen steps with some Jaina friends, and it was most interesting to notice the way they realized that Christians not only believed in an upward, heavenly path, but also in the constant companionship of a Guide who held their hands and steadied their feet over the difficult places. The Jaina of course, denying as they do a Creator, are deprived of the belief in a heavenly Father, who watching over us ‘neither slumbers nor sleeps’. The vital difference on this point of the two faiths is well illustrated by the contrast between Christian evening hymns such as:

‘Abide with me: fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide:
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.’

—and the following Māgadhī śloka which many devout Jaina repeat after their evening reading from the sacred books:

‘The soul is the maker and the non-maker, and itself makes happiness and misery, is its own friend and its own foe, decides its own condition good or evil, is its own river Veyaraṇī.^[25] My soul is my Kuḍasāmalī.^[26] The soul is the cow from which all desires can be milked, the soul is my heavenly garden.’

1. This, however, would certainly not be true of all Hindus.
2. Compare the Hindu saying: ‘As fragrance is inherent in flowers, oil in sesame seed, fire in wood, ghī in milk, sweetness in sugar-cane, so wise men should recognize the soul in a body.’
3. For a full analysis of this somewhat confusing subject, see Appendix, p. 309.
4. Or Karmajā.
5. A frequent cause of misunderstanding in India is the way in which a peon often manages to prevent Indians from approaching British officials, until he receives a sufficient douceur.
6. Dr. Bhandarkar follows Govindānanda in believing Vedanīya karma to mean, ‘the belief that there is something which one has to know’. Jaina, however, seem to give it in this connexion the meaning rather of experience. Search for Sanskrit Manuscripts, p. 97.
7. Or Devāyuḥkarma.
8. It should be noticed that though the Jaina use the same names for the gods as the Hindus employ, the words have often a different connotation; e.g. whereas the Hindus use the word Indra to denote the rain-god, the Jaina believe in not one but sixty-four Indras, who have nothing to do with rain, but who are the rulers of sixty-four different kingdoms.
9. Or Manuṣyāyuḥkarma.
10. Dr. Jacobi practically limits the activities of Karmabhūmi to practising religious duties. This would ignore asi and kasi entirely. Āċārāṅga Sūtra, S. B. E., xxii, p. 195.
11. Or Tiryagāyuḥkarma.
12. Or Narakāyuḥkarma.
13. Dr. Bhandarkar quotes Govindānanda’s saying: ‘Nāmika, i.e. the belief that I am a person bearing such and such a name; Gotrika, i.e. the knowledge that I now belong to the family of the pupils of the worshipful Arhat.’ Loc. cit., p. 97. None of the Jaina that the writer has consulted accept these translations as correct.
14. Here again will be noticed a difference from the interpretation of Govindānanda (who thinks four karma ‘are of use to enable one to know the truth; therefore they are Aghātins, i.e. not injurious, favourable’); and from Dr. Bhandarkar, who considers the Ghātin Karman to mean ‘the disabling Karmans’. Loc. cit., pp. 97 n. and 93.
15. It is interesting to compare these three divisions with the Vedānta Sañċita, Kriyamāṇa and Prārabdha karma.
16. Or Guṇasthāna.
17. Or Sāsvādana.
18. Or Saṁvega.
19. Otherwise Saṁyatāsaṁyata.
20. i.e. those difficult to destroy, or according to another interpretation those which destroy omniscience: Jñānāvaraṇīya, Darśanāvaraṇīya, Mohanīya and Antarāya. Cp. p. 184.
21. i.e. those easy to destroy, or those which do not destroy omniscience: Vedanīya, Āyu, Nāma and Gotra.
22. Or Kuvera.
23. A. B. Latthe, M.A., An Introduction to Jainism, p. 42.
24. Right knowledge, right faith and right conduct. See p. 245.
25. Or Vaitaraṇī: the river in which hell-beings are tormented and drowned by Paramādhāmī.
26. A tree under which souls are tormented by Paramādhāmī.