The ontological status of the individual soul in the
moksa is different in the two religions. The Virasaiva aims at union with
the Absolute (aikya), while for the Jaina each soul retains its
individuality in the highest stage. This has perhaps given the Jainas the
need to emphasize the methods of the astangayoga as a discipline and a
method.
We can say that the end of human life, according to
Indian philosophers, except perhaps the Carvakas, is liberation from the
bonds of empirical existence. Moksa, as the ideal, is difficult to attain.
Few have attained it; and the attainment of such a trans empirical end had
to be adjusted according to the needs of individuals in the light of the
prevailing social structure. Therefore, to compare one type of Yoga as
against the other without understanding the background would be a grievous
error. We have to look at this problem in the full perspective of life.
Moreover, it is difficult to understand the comparative significance of
Yoga unless one lives it.[51]
IV. The soul has the inherent capacity for self
realization. But self-realization is a long process. In the course of its
eternal wanderings in various forms of existence, the soul at some time
gets an indistinct vision and feels an impulse to realise it. The soul has
to go through the various stages of spiritual development. These stages
are called gunasthana, and they are linked up with stages of subsidence
and destruction of the Karmic veil. These are fourteen stages of spiritual
development. The first stage is characterised by the presence of
mithyadrsti, perversity of attitude. Here we accept wrong belief and are
under the false impression that what we believe is right. This is caused
by the operation of mithyatva-karman. However, we are right. Still, due
to perversity of attitude we do not relish the truthjust as a man
suffering from fever has no taste for sugarcane.[52]
The next stage is called sasvadana-samyagdrsti. It is a
halting and transitory stage in which one may get the vision of truth but
is likely to fall back on falsehood due to the excitement of passions. In
the third stage, of samyagmithyadrsti we have a mixed attitude of right
and wrong belief. There is neither a desire to have true beliefs nor a
desire to remain in ignorance. It is like mixing curds and treacle.[53]
This also is a transitional stage. Next comes the stage o� right
attitude, samyagdrsti. One gets a glimpse of the truth. Yet one has not
the spiritual strength to strive for the attainment of it. In this stage
we have attained knowledge, but we lack moral effort as we have not yet
developed self-control. From the next stage onwards there is gradual
expression of self-control. We may compare these four stages to the state
of the persons in Plato's parable of the cave'. The prisoners in the cave
would see their own shadows and the shadows of other men and animals. And
they would mistake the shadows for realities. This is the stage of
mithyatva. If one were to be released, the glare of the light would
distress him; and he would persist in maintaining the superior truth of
the shadows. This is the stage of sasvddana. But once he gets accustomed
to the change, he will be able to see things, and gaze upon the light of
the moon and the stars and the spangled heavens. And once he gets the
clear vision, he will realize the folly of his fellow prisoners and pity
them.[54]
Desavirata-samyagdrsti is the next higher stage of
spiritual development, in which we get partial efforts for self control in
addition to the possession of the knowledge of truth. There is a partial
destruction of Karmic matter which produces passions.[55] Full practice of
virtues would not be possible, because there is the possibility of the
influence of passions.
In the next stage, the moral effort takes a more
definite shape, although it is not always successful. A person has a more
or less steady glimpse of the truth; and he tries to develop self-control
and the obstacles to the practice of virtues are overcome in the sixth
stage. But even here, the moral life and the spiritual struggle are not
fully successful, because their full expression is vitiated by moral and
spiritual inertia. This inertia is called pramada. And pramada is overcome
in the seventh stage of apramattasamyata. Efforts to reach moral
excellence take definite shape. The operation of Karma preventing perfect
conduct is very feeble; and minor passions called kasayas are also
subdued. We can now practice the five great vows and the twenty-four
virtues. The process of adhah pravrtti karana, by which the soul on a
lower level can rise higher, begins to operate in this stage.]56]
The eighth stage is called apurvakarana It leads to
greater and more definite self-control. The self attains special
purification, and is capable of reducing the intensity and duration of
Karma. The Gommatasara gives a detailed description of the process of
apurvakarana operating in this stage. In this stage, one is affected
only by the mild affective states. It is possible to
develop stoic attitude. In the stage of development called anivrtibadara
samparaya. it is possible to overcome even the milder emotional
disturbances with greater confidence and ease. We have, here established
ourselves as moral and spiritual individuals, although sometimes slight
emotional afflictions are possible. In the tenth stage of suksmasamparaya,
only greed disturbs us and that too slightly. Except for this disturbance,
one is passionless and calm. This subtle greed can be interpreted as the
subconscious attachment to the body even in souls which have achieved
great spiritual advancement.[57] But one is free from even the slightest
passions in the eleventh Gunasthana, of upasantamoha. Still the
affections are not altogether eliminated. They are only suppressed through
the pressure of moral effort. We are mostly free from the baneful
influence of the Karma, except the deluding Karma (mohaniya karman). This
state is called chadmastha. It is also called vitaraga, as one is able to
remain calm and undisturbed through the suppression of Karma. In the next
stage, of upasantamoha, there is annihilation of Karma and not mere
suppression. And when all the passions and the four types of Ghati-karma
are destroyed one reaches the thirteenth stage of spiritual development,
called sayogakevali. One is free from the bondage of Karma, yet is not
free from-activity and bodily existence as the ayuhkarma is still to be
exhausted. In this stage, we find omniscient beings like Tirthamkaras,
Ganadharas and the Samanya Kevalins. They attain enlightenment, but still
live in this world preaching the truth that they have seen. This state can
be compared to the state of Jivanmukta. The Vedantasara describes this
state as that of the enlightened and liberated man who is yet alive in
this physical world. Though he may appear to be active in this world yet
he is inactive, like the man who assists a magician in a magic show yet
knows that all that is shown is illusory.[58] Zimmer ,compares
the attitude of the Kevalins in this stage to the function of a lamp
lighting the phenomenal expersonality solely for the maintenance of the
body, not for the pursuit of any gratification of sense or any goal." [59]
The final stage of self realization is the stage of
absolute perfection. All empirical adjuncts, like the bodily functions,
are removed. The soul enters the third stage of sukla-dhyana. This state
lasts only for the period of time required to pronounce five short
syllables.60] At the end of this period the soul attains perfect and
disembodied liberation. It is described as the state of Parabrahma or
Niranjana. It is not possible to give, as Radhakrishnansays, a positive
description of the liberated soul.[61]. It is a state of freedom from
action and desire, a state of utter and absolute quiescence. Zimmer shows
that, in this state, the individuality the masks, the formal personal
features are distilled away like drops of rain that descend from the clear
sky, tasteless and emasculate.[62]
