Nine Tattvas (6): The concept of Saṃvara (inhibition)

[Full title: Nine Tattvas: Journey of Soul towards Mokṣa (6) Saṃvara]

1 Definition and its Nature

In nine tattvas, saṃvara is the sixth tattva. It is competent to close the gates of Āsrava and inhibit the influx. It is one of the essential principles to attain salvation. Defining saṃvara the Tattvartha Sūtra states, the checking of the inflow of new karma by soul is called ‘inhibition (saṃvara).^[1] Nandi cūrni states, ‘saṃvara is renunciation’^[2]. It prevents further inflow of karmas.

For an aspirant, for the final emancipation, the fivefold āsravas must be blocked by the fivefold saṃvara.^[3] They are:

1. Samyaktva (Right attitude): To be free from wrong faith and an unerring belief or firm conviction in the truthfulness of truth.

2. Virati (Abstinence): To renounce all the eighteen kinds of sinful activities.

3. Apramāda (Spiritual alertness): To have keen desire towards righteous deeds. The aspirant with apramāda saṃvara is completely engrossed in the self. His every action has soul in centre.

4. Akaṣāya (Freedom from passions): The complete absence of or suppression of anger, greed, ego and deceit etc. is akaṣāya saṃvara. In this saṃvara the aspirant attains the mystical state of vītarāga (the state of free from attachment).

5. Ayoga saṃvara (Motionlessness): It means ceasing all the mental, vocal and bodily activities. The accomplishment of this saṃvara leads to salvation, the summum bonum of mystic experience.

2 Saṃvara in Context of Mysticism

For an aspirant, to attain the final emancipation or salvation the fivefold Āsrava must be blocked by the fivefold saṃvara. As the aspirant ascends step by step to the each saṃvara, it elevates its soul to the highest stage of spirituality (Guṇasthānas). In whole the saṃvara (principle) tattva values the right world viewand right conduct. It culminates the perfection of both. The aspirant by practicing saṃvara gradually deplits the cause of bondage and moves from aśubha yoga (inauspicious activity) to śubha yoga (auspicious activity) and ultimately to suddhopayoga (pure consciousness).

Emphasizing the practice of saṃvara, Bhagavaī states,

“A self inhibited ascetic converts the firmly bound karma into loosely bound karma, those that are of long duration into those of short duration, those which are of strong intensity into those of weak intensity and those which are of bigger mass into those of smaller mass”.^[4]

The mystic’s journey of spiritual realization starts from samyaktva saṃvarā and terminates in ayoga saṃvara. In the state of samyaktva samvar the mystic aspirant experiences the mystic spark. From this point he initiates in soul’s purification with desire of self-realization and liberation. Then by vrata saṃvara it trains its body, mind and soul in renunciation that causes purification. In the intermediary stages it attains higher purification by being centred in soul and detached from worldly pleasure. In the state of passionless state it experiences the mystical realisation i.e. self-realisation with infinite bliss. Lastly, after the stage of ayoga saṃvara, the mystic by complete cessation of activity experiences the first moment of boundless state of the soul and the highest stage of spiritual purification, the summum bonum of mystical state.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Tattvārtha Sūtra, 9.1. “Āsravanirodhaḥ saṃvaraḥ”

[2]:

Nandī Cūrni, Śri Jinadasgani, ed. Munishree Punyavijayaji, Prakrit Text Society, Varanasi, 1966, p. 6.

[3]:

Ṭhaṇaṃ, 5.110; Samavāo, 5.4.

[4]:

Bhagavaī (Part 1), 1.45-47.