Compendium of Jainism: XI ►Guna-Sthanas or Fourteen Stages in The Spiritual Evolution of Soul

"The high goal of our great endeavour is spiritual
attainment, individual worth, at all cost to be, sought
and at mil cost pursued, to be won at all cost
and at all cost assured."

-Robert Bridges^[1]

Since the goal of all ethics and philosophy is to help an individual to attain spiritual excellence or perfection, it is essential to know what hinders him in realizing his ambition. Every soul, pure and serene, becomes sullied by the influx and assimilation of Karmas due to wrong belief, laxity of self-control and activities of the mind, body and speech actuated by passions. The energies thus generated render the soul impure and subject it to all kinds of infirmities. The shackles of Karma, whether of gold created by Puṇya or of iron created by Papa can be broken not merely by purging the soul of its old Karmas but also by stopping the inflow of new ones.

The moral and spiritual discipline prescribed by Jainism involves a graduated course of training and has therefore to be followed step by step. The sages have therefore divided the path which leads to salvation into fourteen stages, each of which represents a particular state of development, condition or phase of the soul, arising from the quiescence, elimination, or partial quiescence and partial elimination of certain energies of Karma, and the manifestation of those traits and attributes which are held in check by their activity. The fourteen Guṇasthānas classify these attributes and characteristics consistently with the gradual evolution towards the goal.

The order of the Guṇasthānas is logical and not chronological. The succession in which they are to pass differs with each individual, because relapses can throw the Jīvas down from the arduously attained height and can, wholly or partially annul the development achieved till then. This becomes easily comprehensible, if we call to our mind the fact, that remaining on one stage may last only a few minutes, so that in the morning one can be on a high level, sink down from it at noon, and climb up again in the evening. This is an internal and spiritual process, not observed from outside. The different possibilities of the succession of the Guṇasthānas are conditional upon the process which leads to the attainment of the samyaktvas and upon the two ways, by which the method of reduction of Karma can be brought about.^[2]

The psychical condition of the soul due to the rising, settling down, perishing, or partly settling down and partly perishing, of Karmic matter (udaya, upaśama, kṣaya, kṣayopaśamā) is called Guṇasthāna.^[3] It is a matter of common experience that we come across numerous living beings which belong to different stages of understanding due to ignorance (avidyā). These states are due to the difference in state of existence before the commencement of development. We are often confronted with a situation where some souls are aware of the need to shed the Karmas while some others have an indistinct vision of the ' need. An awakening is created only when the soul becomes conscious of what is hindering it in its advancement. There are three things which have to be subdued or eradicated: the mass of Karmas, their intensity and duration. It is the adequacy of spiritual effort that determines the subsidence of these aspects of the Karma.

The fourteen stages of spiritual evolution have been enumerated in verses 9 and 10 of Jīva Kanda of Gommaṭasāra. They are:

1. Mithyātva (delusion),
2. Sāsādana (downfall),
3. Miśra (mixed),
4. Avirata Samyaktva (vow less right belief),
5. Deśa-virata (partial vow),
6. Pramatta-virata (imperfect vow)
7. Apramatta-virata (perfect vow),
8. Apūrava-karaṇa (new thought-activity),
9. Anivṛtti karaṇa (advanced thought activity),
10. Sūkṣma Samparāya (slightest delusion)
11. Upaśānta Moha (subdued delusion),
12. Kṣīna Moha (delusion less),
13. Sayoga Kevali Jina(vibrating omniscient conquerer),
14. Ayoga Kevali (non-vibrating omniscient).

These should be known, as fourteen spiritual stages in the order enumerated. After the last stage, the soul becomes liberated. The fourteen stages have been designated on the basis of the prominent thought activity at each succeeding stage of evolution. We shall deal with each of them in the same order.

1) Mithyātva (Delusion)

This is the stage when a soul is affected by wrong belief due to the deluding or infatuating Karmas. It is the stage of false belief or conviction. Such a person does not believe in the right path. He does not believe in reality and the values of truth and goodness. On the other hand, he sticks to wrong beliefs, and the right beliefs are unpalatable to him. Such a person will not believe in the seven principles. His beliefs are one sided, perverted, doubt­ful, false or indiscriminate. The consciousness of the soul in this state is obsessed with ignorance.

Jainism is based on reason and logic. In the five aforesaid mental states, there is some.belief or the other. There are people who believe in wrong practices and superstitious creeds. When a soul is involved in such wrong beliefs, the person becomes perverted. The loss of faith is due to the recurrence of the kaṣāyas whose subsidence is essential to the manifestation of the insight. Truth has no meaning or value to him. A wrong believer does not believe in the noble doctrines preached by the Jinas- This is a stage of spiritual blindness which is due to the Darśana-varaṇīya-karma. A wrong or perverted believer is like a blind man who does not see what is good and beautiful or what is bad and ugly.

2) Sāsādana (Downfall)

The downfall is from right-belief. When the.error-feeding passions (anantānubandhi kaṣāya) destroy the right belief, the soul falls down from a stage of higher spirituality or from the summit of right belief due to the Karmas, faces wrong beliefs and gets lost in the wilderness of wrong beliefs. This is known as Sāsādana.

This stage, which is otherwise known as Sāsādana samyak- Dṛṣṭi, contemplates a fall from the stage of right faith. A person may attain the stage of right faith by instruction and right under­standing. But if he is overcome by passions or wrong thought- activity, he may slip down from the upper rung of the ladder to which he might have climbed. During this down- fall, the soul has neither right belief nor wrong belief. In this stage, the soul is said to have operative thought-activity (audayika bhava). This is a transitory stage but the evolution has to commence again by destruction of the deluding Karma.

3) Samyak-Mithyā Dṛṣṭi (mixture of right and wrong beliefs)

This is a stage in which a person holds right and wrong beliefs mixed together. It is due to indecision or a wavering state of mind, indicating spiritual oscillation between right faith and wrong faith. Such a person neither sticks up to right belief nor gives up wrong belief. This is also a transitory stage. If the right faith revives as a result of Puṇya or fresh knowledge received from a preceptor, the person may march to the next higher stage; or the soul may as well revert back to the stage of wrong belief

In ail the first three stages the destructive Karma (Ghāti) is still present but it is a question of degree. The right belief is not destroyed but is clouded by wrong belief. The mixed thought activity cannot be split up into two parts just as it is not possible to separate the sugar juice from the curds when both are mixed together. This mixed stage is wavering, impure and unsteady; it is however a cause of the destruction of Karmas. In the mixed stage, there is no bondage of age-karma because death is due to the age-karma already binding the soul and re-birth in a particular state is already bound to the soul when it is born.^[4]

4) Avirata Samyaktva (vow less right belief)

The soul in this stage possesses right faith and also knowledge of truth and falsehood; but if is not capable of observing the vows (rules of self-discipline) due to the operation of partial-vow preventing passions (apratyākhyānāvaraṇa kaṣāya). The right faith in this stage is of three kinds:

1. Upaṣama samyaktva: it may arise in a soul, which had never any right belief before, as a result of the four passions which create erroneous beliefs and wrong beliefs. Right faith may awaken after it had become deluded as a result of the Karmas. It might as well be that a soul has already right belief and may advance further by destroying the kinds of Karmas as are responsible for beliefs of the kinds mentioned in the first three stages. It is possible that a soul may slip down to the three lower stages for one antara muhūrta; if there is no fall, it might advance to the second kind of right belief,
2. This is called Kṣayopama-samyaktva. This is a stage where the operation of right faith is slightly clouded by wrong belief, as at the third stage. The four passions are practically destroyed and are in partial subsidence,
3. Kṣāyika samyaktva: This stage of right belief arises as a result of the destruction of the four kinds of passions and the deluding Karmas. This is the best kind of right belief and the soul which acquires it must progress further.

In this stage, the soul has faith in the mokṣa-mārga i. e., one's spiritual career, culminating into liberation, complete freedom from Karma, but is not able to pursue it observing all the rules of discipline, It believes in the doctrines propounded by the Jaina scriptures but is sometimes affected by wrong instru­ctions of ignorant teachers. Such a soul recovers from the wrong belief on understanding the satisfactory exposition of the tenets by right kind of teachers; if it does not, it slips into wrong beliefs.

In this stage, the person possesses the right belief but not the conduct in strict conformity with it. He has not bound himself by vows to abstain from indulgence in sense-enjoyments (indriya saṁyama) and from hurting the living beings (prāṇa-saṁyama). He is compassionate, calm, fearful of mundane existence (saṁvega) and truthful. He does not hurt anybody without provocation. He is able to control excessive passions of anger, pride, deceit and greed, He is prone to these passions in moderate degrees, but he has faith in the right doctrines.

5) Deśa-virata (Partial vows)

A person in this stage is able to exercise greater degree of self-control than the one in the previous stage. This stage is called the stage of partial-vow because due to the operation of vow-preventing-passions (Pratyakhyānāvaraṇa kaṣāya), there is the absence of perfect control. There is the partial destruction} and partial subsidence of the Karmas binding the soul due to passions. Here, there is the operation (udaya) of that kind of karmic matter which forms such passions as prevent the vows only partially.^[5] The person in this stage has the necessary spiritual disposition and exerts for further development. He observes the rules of Right Conduct only partially due to lack of complete control. This is a stage where, apart from the spiritual progress, emphasis is laid on conduct, that is, observing those rules which are enjoined by the scriptures. It is here that the eleven Pratimās get included.

Since he is right believer, he will control his passions and not commit unnecessary sins. He will not kill the mobile beings. He would not also unnecessarily kill the immobile beings. Since he is wholly devoted to the Jina, he is both vow full and vow less (virata-avirata).^[6] This is so because if he kills the mobile beings, he would be a person without faith in the teachings of Jina.

6) Parmatta-virata

In this stage, the person has right faith and exerts to follow all the rules of conduct. Even though the thought activity is one of destruction and subsidence of almost all the karmic matter, yet the observance of the vows in a perfect manner is prevented due to the operation of the little karmic matter and of the minor passions which have escaped destruction. The saṁjvalana kaṣāyas are passions that prevent the perfect-right-conduct from attaining perfection. They are anger, pride, deceit and greed. The nokaṣāyas or minor passions which similarly cause obstruction are nine: laughter, indulgence, ennui, sorrow, fear, disgust, inclination towards women (Strī-veda), inclination towards men (Puruṣa-veda) and inclination towards the neutre (Napuṁsaka- veda). It is on account of these passions which still remain undestroyed fully that there is carelessness or imperfection in the observance of the vows. Hence the name pramāda or careless error in virata (vow). There is effort on the part of the person to control himself in his observance of the vows, but he is hindered by desires and impulses as the renunciation of attachment to, worldly objects is not complete. This is virtually the stage for an ascetic.

A saint or an ascetic in this stage possesses all the twenty- eight essential primary qualities (mūla-guṇas) which a saint even in the lowest stage possesses. He performs his usual duties like teaching, preaching the scriptures, reading and writing books and looks after the discipline and conduct of his pupils. Carelessness may occur by way of censurable talk relating to women, food, politics, or the king, or control of passions, sleep and attachments, that is moha and sneha (delusion and affection). The conduct of a Muni in this stage is remarkable for its absence of negligence.

7) Apramatta-virata

The soul of a person who has reached this stage of spiritual development is free from the infirmities of the 6th stage and is absorbed in spiritual contemplation. When the perfect-right conduct-preventing Karma (samjvalana) and The minor passions are suppressed there arises the quality of non-carelessness and the soul reaches the stage of perfect vow (apramatta saṁyata). He is absorbed in contemplation but is not able to rise higher as the Karmas etc., are not wholly destroyed. This stage of stagnation at the same stage (seventh) may last for one antaramuhūrta and may fail down to the 6th stage. In the second stage (śreṇi) of ascent, the purity of the thought-activity of the soul increases at every instant and may rise to the level of purity which might have gone up.

This is a very vital stage of spiritual development. Here onwards there would be two ways of progress: one is where the Karmas and minor passions are merely pacified or suppressed (Upaśamaka śreṇi); while the other is kṣapakaśreṇi where the Karmas are annihilated, Undoubtedly the soul has acquired strength due to cessation of all attachments and thorough control over the body. There is full self-control and there is not the slightest negligence in the observance of the vows etc., without any kind of transgression.

8) Apūrva-karaṇa

This stage is called the Apūrava-karaṇa because the spiritual development of the soul leads to attainment of new thought- activities which had not been reached before. All the souls that have reached this stage of development are not uniform in the degree of purity of thought as they might reach the stage at different points of time. The new thought-activities would be mainly concerned with the destruction or subsidence of the right- conduct-deluding karmas. These souls are free from the bondages of karmic matter of sleep (nidrā) and drowsiness (pracala) and are therefore capable of bringing about the subsidence of right- conduct-deluding karmas. The age (āyu) karma is still operating. The soul delights in checking or destroying the consequences of streaks of passions that might arise at times. This is the stage of pure contemplation; it is otherwise called śukla-dhyāna or white contemplation. This is a stage where the soul acquires the unique psychic force which was never experienced before and assists in the destruction of the Karmas, This is accessible to souls which are either in the upaśama śreṇi or in the state of pacification of Karmas (kṣapaka śreṇi) or the state of destroying the Karmas. The conduct is perfect and the soul is capable of engaging himself in holy meditation.

9) Anivṛtti karaṇa

In this stage, the soul acquires advanced thought-activity. Each instant only one thought-activity operates. On account of the purity and fullness of concentration, the thoughts work like the flames or fire and consume the forest of Karmas. The advance in thought-activity and its purity is uniform. The soul either brings about the subsidence or destruction of all the 21 sub-class of passions, and right-conduct-deluding-Karma with the result that gross desires and emotions are overcome.

A person who has reached this stage has conquered all his desires for enjoyment of what he saw, heard or ate. He practises meditation on the true nature of the soul.

10) Sūkṣma samparāya

This is a stage of slight delusion of the five kinds of knowledge- obscuring Karmas, four kinds of perception-obscuring Karmas and five kinds of obstructive Karmas. By his meditation, the person acquires the strength to subdue or destroy even the subtlest of Karmas, A subtle desire to obtain Mokṣa still persists. An unconscious attachment for the body still remains, though there has been great spiritual advancement of the soul. There is a slight tinge of passion of greed. The thought-activity is either subsidential (Upaśamaka) or destructive (kṣapaka).

11) Upaśānta Moha

This is a stage where the delusion (moha) or the kaṣāyas have subsided due to the pure thought-activity, like the limpid waters of a pond in a cold season as all the muddiness would have settled to the ground. This is the upaśama śreṇi or the subsidential stage of the ladder reached by a soul which is advancing further up. This śreṇi is not required to be passed through by a soul which has reached the śreṇi of destructive ladder. Since the soul is in a stage where the Karmas have subsided but not destroyed, it is quite likely that the soul may descend to the lower stage when the passions rise again. In other words, the bhavas or the psychical conditions produced by the suppression of the infatuating Karmas may change and lead the soul back on reappearance of the Karmas. The soul at this stage is chadmastha, that is, enveloped by the influence of Karmas other than the deluding Karmas. The attachment is also suppressed. The soul does derive pleasure on account of the suppressed Karmas and hence its stay at the stage is one antaramuhūrta at the maximum. The person acquires the power to destroy the mohanīya Karmas which have not been destroyed altogether.

12) Kṣīṇa Moha

In this stage, the saint who is possession less (nir-grantha) would have destroyed all his deluding passions. The thoughts are as clear as water kept in a pure vessel of crystal jewel. When a soul has reached this stage, the thought-activity purifies the body, transforms it into a highly refined one (parama-udārika) and progresses towards the destruction of other ghātiya Karmas: viz. Jñānāvaranīya, Darśanāvaraṇīya and Antarāya since the Mohanīya Karma is already destroyed. This is a stage where passions have been annihilated. The distinction between this stage and the former is that in the latter stage the soul is at the stage of subsidence while in the former stage, it has reached the ladder of destruction. It stays for one antara-muhūrta and marches forward to destroy all the four Ghātī Karmas.

13) Sayoga-Kevalin

From the previous stage, the soul advances to reach this stage of omniscient being who has yet to destroy the four Aghātī Karmas; that is why it is a stage of a Kevalin and sayoga (with activity). The activities of the body, mind and speech still continue to exist. Here the soul becomes the Arhat or perfect soul in human body. The soul appears bright like the sun freed from the clouds and attains full knowledge of the universe. Ignorance has been destroyed and the soul attains the stage of of Paramātman by acquisition of nine kinds of purified thought- activities arising as a result of destruction of Ghātī Karmas. The nine Kevala-Labdhis are:

1. Kṣāyika jnana is purified or perfect knowledge due to the destruction of knowledge-obscuring karma.
2. Kṣāyika darśana is perfect cognition due to the destruction of Darśanāvaraṇīya Karma.
3. Kṣāyika dana is perfect charity due to destruction of Dānāntarāya Karma.
4. Kṣāyika Lābha is perfect gain due to the destruction of Iābhāntarāya Karma.
5. Kṣāyika bhoga is perfect enjoyment of consumable objects due to the destruction of Bhogāntaraya Karma.
6. Kṣāyika- upabhoga is perfect enjoyment of non-consumable objects due to the destruction of Upabhogāntarāya Karma.
7. Kṣāyika vīrya is perfect power due to the destruction of Vīryāntarāya Karma.
8. Kṣāyika samyaktva is perfect right belief due to the destruction of Dar£ana-Moha.
9. Kṣāyika cāritra is perfect right conduct due to the destruction of cāritra-moha.^[7]

As already stated, this is a stage of spiritual perfection, still associated with body, mind and speech. The Arhanta Parameṣṭhi who is engaged in propounding the Dharma to all living beings is an example of Sayoga Kevali.^[8]

14) Ayoga Kevali

This is the stage of final liberation when the vibrations of the holy body cease, as the yoga of body, mind and speech are discarded. This is the stage of Siddha a stage of transcendental perfection. The Omniscient Lord of this stage is one who has fully stopped the influx of Karmas after having destroyed those already attaching and who has put an end to vibratory activity.^[9] The soul is wholly free from the eight kinds of Karmas and has attained its true state of blissfulness which is ever-lasting. The soul abides at the summit of the universe, having been fully liberated. The abode is called Siddhaśilā; there the fully liberated souls live in purity and peace.

Now it may be of interest to genera! reader to recapitulate the logical manner in which the spiritual development or evolution takes place from the state of ignorance to that of perfection. In this vast universe, there are infinite number of souls some of which are invisible to our senses. Roughly speaking, the souls may be divided for our present purpose into two classes: bhavya in whom there is an awakening to its potential qualities and abhavya in whom there is no such awakening. The arrangement of the Guṇasthānas is not artificial but scientific. The principal cause of liberation is the subjugation of the activities of the body, mind and speech accompanied by internal tapas.

Naturally the journey of evolution starts from the stage of ignorance and wrong belief. This is the first stage where the individual is possessed of perverted and superstitious beliefs. He is blind to the truth that the soul is deferent from the body and considers that his bodily pleasures and material acquisitions are the end and aim of Life. The second stage is not really one of development. It is the halting place for souls which have slipped down from the higher stage on account of Karmas or there is a slight indistinct awareness of right belief in a soul otherwise in a state of wrong belief. The third stage is one of wavering between right belief and wrong belief. The mind gets glimpses of right faith but does not cling to it long. The individual oscillates in a state of wrong-cum-right belief. The fourth stage "is one where the individual has acquired the right faith. This is undoubtedly a stage of development as the individual would be becoming conscious of right knowledge and right conduct. He has not developed self-control as there has been neither subsidence nor disassociation nor annihilation of the passions and vision-deluding Karmas. The first four stages are thus concerned with the develop­ment of the individual from that of a wrong-believer to that of a right believer, though without self-control.

The next three stages from the 5th to 7th relate to steps in the evolution and development of full self-control. The individual having acquired right belief in the 4th stage struggles to gain mastery over his passions and acquires partial self-control. He passes on to the next stage with his partial self-control; he exerts to acquire full self-control but often fails in his efforts due to negli­gence. He is sometimes swayed by passions and emotions and he remains in a state of spiritual inertia. The march into the 7th stage marks his success in acquiring self-control. The spiritual inertia of the earlier stage does not confront him. There is spiritual strength to master the infirmities of the body. The further progress depends upon the ability of the individual to subdue or annihilate his Karmas. The spiritual heights to be reached by the subsidence of a Karmas is certainly lower than that to be reached by the destruction of the Karmas.

The 8th stage heralds the commencement of pure contem­plation for greater purity of the soul. The Karmas are eradicated and subdued and due to the purity of soul, intensity and duration of the Karmas are shortened. The influx of new Karmas becomes quite limited. This is therefore a stage of very great purity of the soul. Then the individual steps into the 9th stage where he tries to conquer his grosser emotions and desires. With the success achieved, he ascends to the higher stage, that is, the 10th stage where the spiritual war waged is against greed or the subconscious attachment to the body. The 11th stage is reached when the individual is able to vanquish the Karmas by suppressing them. Just as a suppressed enemy is likely to rise again, so there is the chance of reappearance of passions and emotions with a probable descent to the tenth stage. The 12th stage represents the stage of complete destruction of all passions. When the soul goes to the 13th stage, it would have destroyed all the Ghāti Karmas and attained omniscience. The final or the 14th stage is reached when even the Aghātī Karmas are also destroyed and the soul reaches the stage of Siddha.

It may be added that the spiritual height which a layman or house-holder can reach would be the fifth Guṇasthāna which contemplates partial renunciation of the world. Right faith, Right knowledge and Right conduct are the three jewels whose full realization helps the individual on his path of liberation. The earliest stages of the journey are necessarily those which mark the transition from the state of settled wrong convictions to the acquisition of true faith.. the remaining Guṇasthānas are the land marks on the path of progress in respect of Right conduct. The eighth and ninth stages are also characterized by increased medita­tion, hence, concerned with the advancement of knowledge, but to follow the teachings of the Siddhānta on to the still higher rungs of the ladder, it is necessary to remember that perfection it conduct means neither more nor less than the attainment of the state of desire lessness, which is possible only with the complete eradication of all those traits which spring from desire.^[10]

Following table is gratefully borrowed from Sri C. R, Jair as it brings out the main features of the fourteen stages of Guṇasthānas very clearly.