Chapter 1.8 - The Goal in Jain Yoga

In Jainism the ultimate goal is to attain the state of disembodied liberation (siddha) by annihilating destructive (ghāti) as well as non-destructive (aghāti) karmans. According to Jainism a soul does exist. It is under the bondage of karmans from time which has no beginning. That bondage is from the inflow of karmans (āśrava). It is caused by anger and other passions which arise from non-vigilance (pramāda). The nonvigilance is due to vowlessness (avirati). The vowlessness exists under influence of wrong belief (mithyātva). Such an impure soul, sometimes, on getting proper occasion etc., is gradually liberated. The spiritual progress of the soul begins from right faith (samyaktva). The right faith leads to avoidance of sins by practicing vows (virati.). The avoidance of sins makes the soul vigilant (apramatta). Vigilance leads to passionlessness (absence of kaṣāya). And it leads to cessation of karmans. This, in short, is the path to liberation.

The following verse from Ātmānuśāsana^[1] of Guṇabhadra (9th century A.D.) is worth referring here:

astyātmāstamitādibandhanagatastadbandhanānyāsravaiste
krodhādikṛ tāḥ pramādajanitāḥ krodhādayaste'vratāt |
mithyātvopacitāt sa eva samalaḥ kālādilabdhau
kvacit samyaktavratadakṣatākaluṣatāyogaiḥ kramānmucyate || 241 ||

Stages of Spiritual Development:

According to Jainism a soul is bound by karmans from time immemorial. Its state of bondage is beginning less but not endless. To get bound by karmans as well as to become free from the bondage, both are nature of a soul.^[2] It is a soul only who causes bondage to itself and it is the same soul who elevates itself from the bondage to liberation.

There are many spiritual gradations offered by jainācāryas keeping in mind different perspectives. Among the various gradations the most basic is classification of a soul into two viz.:

1. Bhavya (worthy of obtaining liberation).
2. Abhavya (not worthy of obtaining liberation).

Again the Bhavya soul can be of two types. They are:

1. Carmāvartin
2. Acarmāvartin.

This is the very primary classification of a soul to show its spiritual growth. The same is done in a more systematic and detailed manner by jainācāryas under the title of fourteen stages of the spiritual journey (guṇasthānas) of a soul.

Actually speaking the spiritual journey of an aspirant encompasses innumerable stages, yet for the sake of convenience and for a better understanding of the process of spiritual development, the jainācāryas have described the fourteen stages of the spiritual journey.

The explanation of the fourteen stages has been dealt in many Jain sacred texts. As we are here not concerned with minutest details of fourteen stages, we do not give their explanation one by one.

It is very interesting to note that the scheme of fourteen stages of spiritual development rests upon five doors of stoppage of karmans (saṃvara).

They are^[3] :

1. Right faith (samyaktva)
2. Abstinence (virati)
3. Vigilance (apramāda)
4. Passionlessness (akaṣāya)
5. Total freedom (ayoga)

The main enemy in the spiritual progress is delusion (mithyātva).^[4] It hinders the spiritual elevation of an aspirant. Therefore, in order to climb up the ladder of spiritual journey the first activity a soul has to do is to annihilate the delusion. When the subsidence of all the three types of darśanamohanīya^[5] and acquisition of victory over the first degree of intensity (anantānubandhi) of four passions (kaṣāyas)take place, the aspirant obtains the fourth stage of development from where his real struggle begins. This is his journey from mithyātva (first door of inflow of karman) to samyaktva (first door of stoppage of karman). An aspirant, who has obtained right faith in real sense of terms, attains fourth stage of spiritual elevation namely Aviratasamyagdṛṣṭi guṇasthāna. At this stage he is incapable of observing any vows (either great or minor i.e. mahāvrata or aṇuvrata). At this stage he distinguishes between the self and the non-self. Only after removing apratyākhyāna type of passion the aspirant becomes capable of taking partial vows. At this stage he has attained partial abstinence (deśavirati). When he annihilates pratyākhyāna type of passion, he observes complete restraint (i.e. sarvavirati). This is an aspirant’s second stage where he travels from avirati (the second door of the inflow karman) to virati (the second door of the stoppage of karman). At this stage the aspirant attains fifth as well as sixth stage of spiritual elevation. Here, he is still open to nonvigilance (pramāda).

When non-vigilance, the cause of small defects, is removed, the aspirant ascends to the seventh guṇasthāna. Here he tries to overcome the milder types of passions also and keeps on struggling against them. This is the third stage of an aspirant where he successfully acquires vigilance (the third door of the stoppage of karman) by getting victory over non-vigilance (the third door of the inflow of karman). Up to the seventh guṇasthāna the aspirant follows the path of destruction-cum-subsidance (kṣayopśama). Therefore till the seventh guṇasthāna anantānubandhi kaṣāya etc. are neither completely subsided nor destroyed. In the eighth guṇathāna the aspirant successfully ascend either of the two ladders (śreṇi) namely upaśama (subsidence) śreṇi and kṣapaka (destruction) śreṇi. The one who climbs kṣapaka śreṇi comes from eighth, ninth and tenth guṇasthānas directly to the twelfth guṇasthāna without going to the eleventh guṇasthāna. At the stage of attainment of twelfth guṇasthāna the aspirant has completely destroyed delusion (mohanīya karman) as well as all four passions with their sub-categories. This is the fourth stage where a soul gets complete freedom from passions (the fourth door of the inflow of karman) and attains the passionress state (the fourth door of the stoppage of karman). As soon as the destructive karmans(ghāti karmans) are destroyed at the end of twelfth guṇasthāna, a soul obtains the omniscience (sayoga kevali). Here, only yoga (the fifth door of inflow of karmans) out of five causes of the inflow of karmans, remains. This is so because the omniscient soul still possesses four non-destructive karmans. At the end of thirteenth guṇasthāna, the soul prepares him for salvation. Here, he proceeds to check the yoga (the activities of mind, speech and body). It results into achievement of the state of complete motionlessness (śaileśikaraṇa). This state lasts for only as much time as is required to pronounce five short vowels. At the end of this period the soul leaves the embodied state forever and goes straight above to the end of the universe, to enjoy ultimate bliss. This is the state of ayoga (the fifth door of saṃvara) as opposite to yoga (the fifth door of āśrava).

The Jain tradition, which has offered fourteen stages of spiritual elevation, has also provided threefold classification of a soul for its spiritual journey. In the early part of this chapter we have defined and explained the three categories of a soul. Therefore, we do not repeat the same over here. We will directly discuss how the threefold classification of a soul corresponds with the scheme of fourteen stages of the spiritual elevation.

An extrovert soul is said to possess first three guṇasthānas. Śubhacandra, in his commentary on Kārtikeyānuprekṣā, says that a soul in the first, second and third guṇasthānas are called utkṛṣṭa, madhyama and jaghanya bahirātmans respectively.^[6]

An introvert soul is also of three types. The best type of an introvert soul is the one who observe the five great vows, are steadfast in dharma and śukladhyāna and overcome all types of non-vigilance. This comprises of guṇasthānas from the seventh to the twelfth.^[7] The medium type of extrovert soul is the one who possesses either fifth or sixth guṇasthāna. ^[8] The lowest type of an extrovert soul is a samyagdṛṣṭi soul who possesses fourth guṇasthāna and incapable of observing any vow.^[9]

The supreme soul is the state which is considered to be the goal of all spiritual exertion it comprises the state of sayogakevali and the ayogakeval. Therefore a supreme soul is said to possess thirteenth and finally the fourteenth guṇasthāna.

In his treatise Yogabindu Haribhadrasūri has classified yoga into five they are:

1. Adhyātma
2. Bhāvanā
3. Dhyāna
4. Samatā
5. Vṛttisaṅkṣaya.

The process of yoga starts with pūrva-seva and ends in the vṛttisaṅkṣaya. The five doors of stoppage of karman (saṃvara) correspond with the five classification of yoga proposed by Haribhadrasūri. Samyaktva and virati correspond with adhyātma and bhāvanā. The state of apramāda matches with dhyāna and that of akaṣāya corresponds with samatā. It is vṛttisaṅkṣaya which comprises ayoga state.

Haribhadrasūri’s classification of eight yogadṛṣṭi is the most unique way of presenting spiritual growth of an aspirant. Though Haribhadrasūri has classified eight yogadṣṭis in his own way, he has interwoven in them the fourteen stages of spiritual elevation in a scholarly manner.

In his treatise yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya Haribhadrasūri says that the beholder of any of the first four yogadṛṣṭis possess first guṇasthāna. The fifth dṛṣṭi is very important as it brings the lighe [light?] of right faith (samyaktva) to its beholder. It is a beholder of fifth dṛṣṭi who is said to possess fourth guṇasthāna. The usage of words like “…niraticāramatrā'nuṣṭhānaṃ....” and “…viśiṣṭāpramādasacivaṃ...”^[10] in identifying sixth dṛṣṭi indicates that the beholder of a sixth dṛṣṭi possess abstinance (virati) and vigilance (apramāda) that means the subject in question seems to be holding fifth, sixth and seventh guṇasthānas. Haribhadrasūri narrates the passionless state of a beholder of seventh yogadṛṣṭi by using words like “…praśamasāraṃ sukhamiha...” and “...tatsannidhau vairādināśaḥ...”^[11] Hence we may assume that the beholder of seventh dṛṣṭi has ascended successfully the kṣapakaśreṇi and has reached to twelfth guṇasthāna from eight, ninth and tenth guṇasthānas. Here, the eleventh guṇasthāna is not considered because it does not result into the attainment of omniscience and consequent liberation. The entire description of eighth dṛṣṭi refers to the state of sayoga kevalin as well as ayoga kevalin (i.e. thirteenth and fourteenth guṇasthāna).

Here it should be made clear that the correspondance of yogadṛṣṭis from to eighth with guṇasthāna from fourth to fourteenth does not provide a hard and fast division because the yogadṛṣṭis may overlap in some of their characteristics.

Keeping in mind the five doors of stoppage of karman, fourteen stages of spiritual elevation, threefold classification of a soul, five types of yoga and eightfold yogadṛṣṭis we may derive following stages of an aspirant. They are:

1. The welcomers of worldly existence;
2. The Apunarbandhaka;
3. The Aviratasamyagdṛṣṭi;
4. The cāritrins:
   a. deśaviratas;
   b. sarvavirata.
5. kṣapakaśreṇi ārohins;
6. kevalin:
   a. sayoga kevalin;
   b. ayoga kevalin.

We must note here that the first stage of the welcomer of worldly existence is not an aspirant or spiritual seeker in true sense. He possesses the first guṇasthāna for name sake only. Moreover, Haribhadrasūri also says that a welcomer of worldly existence holds oghadṛṣṭi –an opposite of yogadṛṣṭi

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Ātmānuśāsana of Guṇabhadra. Edited by Fulchand Shastri. Varanasi: Ganeshvarni Digambar Jain Granthmala. 1983.

[2]:

ātmā tadanyasaṃyogātsaṃsārī tadviyogataḥ|
sa eva mukta etau ca tatsvābhāvyāttayostathā || 6 ||
   –Yogbindu

[3]:

paṃca saṃvaradārā paṇṇattā taṃjahā–sammattaṃ, viraī, appamāyā, akasāyā, ayogayā|
   –Samavāyāṅgasūtra, samavāya-5, sutra-10.

[4]:

It has two aspects: (a) that which perverts attitude of soul (darśanamohanīya) and (b) that which obstructs right conduct in the form of mental pollution (cāritra-mohanīya). Once the first type of delusion is removed, the aspirant is bound to get rid of the second type of delusion also.

[5]:

Three types of darśanamohanīya are:

(a) The person does not believe in the truth at all when it is presented to him.

(b) The person remains vacillating all the time. This is so because he believes the truth for some time and then there arises doubt in his mind.

(c) There is just a little vacillating in this state. The person though believes in the truth all the time, at certain moments feels that there is something more to be known.

[6]:

Śubhacandra on Kārtikeyānuprekṣa, 193

[7]:

Kārtikeyānuprekṣa, 195, Also Ācārya Śubhacandra on it.

[8]:

Ibid, 196.

[9]:

Ibid, 197

[10]:

See p. 10, line: 14, auto-commentary on verse–15 of Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya edited by Shilacandrasūri.

[11]:

See p. 10, line: 17 and 18, Ibid.