Religious Quest of India

SR No.: 011031
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: J N Farquhar, Griswold
Publisher: J N Farquhar Griswold
Total Pages: 365
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

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KARMA AND THE
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.'
At this stage, too, moderate anger, deceit, pride and greed are controlled and sometimes destroyed.
vi. Pramatta
We now come to the sixth step on the ladder, Pramatta gunasthanaka, which can only be ascended by the professed thanaka. ascetic. Even slight passions are now controlled or destroyed, and only certain negligences (Pramāda) remain.
gunas
vii. Apra
matta
Thirdly, while still on this step, he may advance to Utkrista 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 sadhu. This is the highest step that a layman can reach as such, for if it be successfully surmounted, he will become a sadhu.
'These five Pramāda: Pride, Enjoyment of the senses, Kaṣāya, Sleep and Gossip, torment the soul in this world'
runs a Magadhi 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.
At the seventh step, Apramatta gunasthanaka, anger is either absolutely quiescent or actually destroyed, and only thanaka. in a slight degree do pride, deceit and greed remain. The
gunas
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. Niya- Among the Digambara some say that women can only tibādara mount as high as the fifth stage; others believe they can reach (or Apürvaka- the eighth step, which is called Niyatibādara guṇasthānaka. rana) gu- It is also called the Apurvakarana, because the man who naka. has his foot on this stair experiences such joy as he has never known before in all his life. As anger disappeared
nasthā.