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THE PRACTICAL DHARMA
which is propounded in popular speech, for the benefit of the masses, by an advanced disciple and muni called gañadhara. The truth thus known is called fruti (revelation), or śruta jñāna, and its absolute accuracy is guaranteed by the faculty of omniscience which does not come into manifestation so long as there remains the least trace of any of the energies of the mohaniya karma.
(14) dyoga kevali (ayoga, without mind, speech and body, and kevali, omniscient). This is the last stage on the Path, and is followed by the soul's ascent to nirvāṇa on the exhaustion of the aghātiyā karmas. The jīva who passes this stage is called siddha. He has now become fully established in Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct, and is freed from all kinds of karmic impurities and bonds which had hitherto held him in captivity. No longer subject to the de-pressing influence of matter, He rises up immediately to the topmost part of the universe to reside there, for ever, in the enjoyment of all those divine attributes which most of us have never even dreamt of. A conqueror in the true sense of the word, He now enjoys, to the full, the fruit of His unflinching fight with His Own lower nature. Pure intelligence in essence, He now becomes an embodiment of knowledge by bursting His bonds. Thus, what some people consider to be a stultification of character is really the acquisition of such godly qualities as perfect faith, infinite knowledge, inexhaustible power and pure unabating joy. The Ideal of absolute Perfection, the Siddha becomes the object of worship for all the bhavyas (those possessed of the realisable potentiality of Godhood) in the three worlds! And what language can describe the glory of that siddhūtman the mere contemplation of whose worshipful feet is sufficient to destroy all kinds of karmas of His bhaktas (devotees)?
To revert to the subject under consideration, it will be observed that the arrangement of the guṇasthānas is based not upon any artificial division of the path,' but upon the natural effects observable in the being who takes himself scientifically in hand to control his destiny. No serious student of religion stands in need of being told that of all kinds of tapas the antaranga is the principal cause of emancipation, though the physical control of the bodily functions and organs is also
