Chapter 1.4 - From Haribhadrasūri to Hemacandrācārya (Hemachandra)

Among the later Jain scholars namely Guṇabhadra (9th century A.D.), Amitagati (11th century A.D.) etc. have always taken into consideration the three-fold classification of a soul while discussing about the spirituality.

Muni Rāmasiṃha (10th century A.D.) in his composition Pāhuḍadohā, which is written in Apabhraṃśa Prakrit, defines the term yoga. His definition narrates that state which a soul acquires at the time of yoganirodha process. The definition presented by him describes the emancipated state where one achieves total freedom (ayoga).

The two verses are:

1. ṇijjiyasāso ṇipphaṃ daloyaṇe mukkasayalavāvāro |
eyāiṃ avattha gao so joyau ṇatthi saṃdeho || 204 ||

2. so joyau jo jogavai ṇimmalu joyai joi |
jo puṇu iṃdiyavasi gayau so iha sāvayaloi || 97 ||

Ācārya Śubhacandra (10th century A.D.) composed the valuable treatise namely Jñānārṇava on Jain Yoga. Jñānārṇava is also called Dhyānaśāstra by its author^[1] . The edition of Jñānārṇava, which was edited by Balchandra Shastri and published by Jain Sanskriti Sanrakshak Sangh in 1977, contained thirty nine prakaraṇas of the text Jñānārṇava. While the edition of Jñānārṇava, which was published by Raychandra Jain Shastramala in 1927, contained fourty two prakaraṇa of the text. In the present thesis we have referred the edition of the Jñānārṇava which was published in 1977. In this treatise he has explained in detail the concept of meditation and types of meditation. He has stated which places are appropriate for meditation and which not appropriate. Moreover, the most unique contribution of Jñānārṇava is narration tritattva namely śivatattva, garuḍatattva and kāmatattva^[2] .In the 19th prakaraṇa of Jñānārṇva Ācārya Śubhacandra has discussed the three categories of a soul namely extrovert soul, introvert soul and supreme soul.

The treatise Yogasāraprābhṛta of Amitagati (I)^[3] contains certain verses that define the term yoga and the yogin. This is how the Yogasāraprābhṛta contributes to the Jain Yoga tradition. The following verse from Yogasāraprābhṛta presents definition of yoga accepted by yogins who have destroyed destructive (ghāti) karmans by the force of yoga.

The verse is,

“viviktātma-parijñānaṃ yogātsaṃjāyate yataḥ |
sa yogo yogibhirgīto yoganirdhūta-pātakaiḥ || 9.10 || ”

While defining a yogin, Amitagati very scholarly describes the yogic state of an aspirant in the most comprehensive manner. The following two verses are the best examples of it.

They are:

1. galita-nikhila rāga-dveṣa-mohādi doṣaḥ
satatamiti vibhaktaṃ cintayannātmatattvam |
gatamalavikāraṃ jñāna-dṛṣṭi-svabhāvaṃ
janana-maraṇa-muktaṃ muktimāpnoti yogī || 1.59 || 

2. ātmatattvamapahastita-rāgaṃ
jñāna-darśana-cāritramayaṃ yaḥ |
muktimārgamavagacchati yogī
saṃvṛṇoti duritānī sa sadyaḥ || 5.62 ||

The following three verses from Dhyānastava, of Bhāskaranandi (post 11th century A.D.), define extrovert as well as introvert type of soul.

The verses are:

1. dehendriyamanovākṣu mamāhaṃkārabuddhimān |
bahirātmā na saṃpaśyed devatvāṃ sa bahirmukhaḥ || 37 || 

2. padārthān nava yo vetti sapta tattvāni tattvataḥ |
ṣaḍdravyāṇi ca pañcāstikāyān dehātmanobhirdām || 38 ||

3. pramāṇanayanikṣepaiḥ sad dṛṣṭijñānavṛttimān |
so'ntarātmā sadādevasyāttvāṃ dṛṣṭumalaṃ kṣamaḥ || 39 ||

Hemacandrācārya [i.e., Hemachandra Acharya], who belonged to 12th century A.D., composed many works. The Yogaśāstra is his valuable treatise on Jain Yoga. Hemacandrācrya composed an autocommentary (svopajñaṭīkā) on the Yogaśāstra. It contains approximately thousand verses and the auto-commentary is of twelve thousand verses approximately. Both are in Sanskrit. The Yogaśāstra is divided into twelve prakāśa (chapters). In this treatise Hemacandrācārya equates the three jewels with the term Yoga^[4] . He also explains five great vows of a Jain monk, five self-regulation, three self-restraint, twelve vows of a layman, twelve types of contemplation (bhāvanā) and so on. Towards the end of the fourth prakāśa Hemacaanadrācārya has mentioned eight yoga-limbs of Pātajñala Yoga. In the fifth prakāśa of Yogaśāstra Hemacandrācārya has stated that according to Jainism prāṇāyāma (the fourth yoga-limb) is not inevitable for attaining liberation. However, he explains with great detail the concept of prāṇāyāma in the fifth prakāśa of Yogaśāstra. The Yogaśāstra contains explanation on meditation (dhyāna) and its sub-types with great detail. Hemacandrācārya in his Yogaśāstra defines the three categories of a soul namely extrovert soul, introvert soul and supreme soul ^[5] .

Moreover, Hemacandrācārya says following about the three categories of a soul. The verse is:

bāhayātmānam apāsya prasattibhājāntarātmanā yogī |
satataṃ paramātmānaṃ vicintayet tanmayatvāya ||12.6||

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

See verse number 2229 of the Jñānārṇava.

[2]:

See 19th prakaraṇa of the Jñānārṇava of Ācārya Śubhacandra edited by Balachandra Shastri, 1977.

[3]:

See pg: 20-21, introduction of Yogasāraprābhṛta edited and commented upon by Jugalkishor Mukhatar, published by Bharatiya Jnanapith, 1999, 2nd edn.

[4]:

caturvarge'graṇīrmokṣo yogastasya ca kāraṇam |
jñāna-śraddhānaṃ-cāritrarupaṃ ratnatrayaṃ ca saḥ ||1-15||

[5]:

See 7th and 8th verse of the twelfth prakāśa in the Yogaśāstra.