Meditation is another word which is being used quite loosely
now a days. People say that they go for
a walk in the morning then do meditation there which they find quite relaxing.
Coaching centers are offering mediation classes. Is it as simple and ordinary
as that? Here we take a look at the Jain perspective.
Meditation
To begin with, firstly it has to be understood that
meditation is contemplation of something. So there should be a goal of
contemplation. It does not make sense if we say that we just meditated on
nothing. It may be pleasant or quite blissful but perhaps same effect is
experienced when we see a beautiful scenery. But mediation without objective is
an exercise in wilderness. In Jains meditation is a tool of progressing on the
Moksha Marg. In fact the process starts in 4th gunasthana itself but
continues at all stages sunsequently. In fact all the time from 7th
gunasthana onwards is spent in the state of meditation only and nothing else.
13th gunasthana is the intermediate result of that process. However
it continues even beyond 13th until Siddha state is achieved. Hence
for any Jain , meditation is not an exercise, or a temporary solace from
mundane daily chores but a goal of life.
Jain Acharyas have extensively elaborated on the goal of
contemplation in scriptures. It includes also the non goals which are the paths
of aberration. This is so because one will not know the right path without
knowing the wrong path also. Overall there are 363 ways the beliefs may be
wrong. Each of this would define their own objective of contemplation and path
of liberation. While we need not go through each individually to find the
mistakes, it suffices to see the basic flaw in thinking process to identify the
correct objective. Some of the erroneous goals are described below:
1)
Contemplation on nothing: One of
the contemporary religions believes that the soul does not exist hence is zero.
The jiva which existed in previous moment is not the same in next moment. In
this system the meditation is in the form of an observer who is watching the
world. People claim to achieve blissful experience in such contemplation. But
in reality that experience is due to avoidance of passions and such desires in
that period. Since there were no perturbations within the soul, the experience
was also blissful in general. In Jains it would be called shubha bhava but not
shuddha bhava which is pure thought. Shubha bhava leads to accrual of punya
karma while shuddha bhava leads to destruction of karmas, therefore the two are
different. Actually shuddha bhava is experienced only when we identify our true
nature of soul and try to be one with it. That is the process of right
meditation. Therefore if we do not know the true nature of soul itself then how
can we meditate properly? In Jains the meditation begins only after right
belief / knowledge of self. Attainment of right belief is through an experience
of the self. Therefore anyone who claims meditation but not knowing the nature
of soul is traversing an erroneous path. True meditation is an experience of
the self with its true qualities. Thus contemplation on nothing may be giving
pleasant experience but does not lead anywhere.
2)
Contemplation on Singularity :
Another religion believes in the singularity of the universe. There is no
second being hence oneness with the universe is the objective of meditation.
Just as a drop of water joins with ocean and becomes ocean so does the soul
becomes one with supreme entity. However this is also flawed. Firstly it does
not explain the observation of day to day existence in the mundane world since
as per this theory , this world does not exist. After all there is nothing else
other than the supreme. Even if we try to call it as hallucination , even that
hallucination becomes something different than supreme which is not acceptable.
Secondly it does not provide for the existence of self as unique. What exactly
is being one with supreme? Do all experience the same pain or the pleasure of
same nature at all times. In real world we do not see such a thing happening.
Suffice to say that there are quite a few contradictions which cannot be
explained. On the other hand in Jains each person is unique and on liberation
also he is Siddha , different from others. In fact there are infinite of them.
Thus each person has the freedom to achieve that state. Further the present
corrupted state is also not denied. This state is present from beginingless time
and will continue till the person makes an effort realizing his own true
nature. This is logical as well as matches with the observations. Therefore the
contemplation on singularity is a flawed goal for meditation.
3)
Contemplation on plurality: Another variant can believe each one as individual
but as pure self. The flaw lies in the universe but not the soul since soul is
always pure. One wonders that if the soul is pure then why does one need
meditation? Meditation was the process needed to purify the soul. If soul is
already pure then one does not need to achieve anything more ! Anyway one
cannot purify the non self by meditation. So the objective appears to be
flawed. Without explaining the day to day existence of the world , one cannot
venture into meditation on an unreal path.
4)
Contemplation on a God : One more
possible objective of contemplation is the creator God wherein one meditates as
himself as his servant. Thus the highest level desired to be attained is his
servanthood. This raises a plethora of unanswerable questions. Whether it is
worth the effort? Actually this appears to be an offshoot of the real world
where one was servant to kings in his lifetime and after death he serves the
almighty. It appears highly erroneous to assume that one finds it very pleasant
and blissful. However mythology is full of such stories.
5)
Contemplation on true nature of self :
This is the Jain philosophy. As per this the soul inherently is pure but in the
worldly state, it is corrupted in conjunction with the material objects. He
believes others to belong to him whether sentient or insentient. He experiences
passions of anger, deceit, pride, greed with respect to them and accrues
karmas. The fruition of karmas results in thoughts of similar nature and thus
the cycle continues indefinitely. However his true nature is that of knowing
and seeing all which he has never
realized. While his dravya is inherently pure, his paryaya or state is
corrupted and therefore his infinite qualities are never realized or they
manifest in impure state. This concept is logical and fits with the
observations. Only when he realizes his true nature and try to establish his
oneness with it , he would experience the self.
The
procedure for meditation is described by shri Nemichandra Acharya in Dravya
Sangrah in sutra 56 as follows:
Do not act, do not talk do not think,
so that the soul may be attached to and fixed in itself. This only is excellent
meditation.
Herein all the activities of mind, speech
or body are stopped , therefore all perturbations of the soul are minimized.
Hence the attention is now within the self than to the external world. One does
not have to think of the true nature of self. It is to be known and believed.
At the same time the knowledge knows the present state ( paryaya) to be
corrupted and impure. With this knowledge he establishes his oneness with the
Dravya i.e. his true nature of knowing, seeing, blissfulness , strength etc.
This results in experiencing the soul beyond senses, in true blissfulness which
is never experienced before.
On the other hand contemplation of his
impure nature only causes perturbation and passions which do not serve
anything. By avoiding passions he may feel the peacefulness but that is not
the same as experience of the soul. That is why all meditations do not lead to
same result.
Once soul is experienced, it changes the
life style of devotee and he tries to immerse himself in that experience the
same again and again. However since he is still involved in worldly activities
hence his concentration is weak and he cannot hold attention for long. This is
the condition in lower 4th gunasthana . To improve his concentration
he has to give up involvement of worldly activities and practice better self
control. This stage is known as 5th gunasthana. Higher level is
achieved by discarding the worldly activities altogether and becoming a muni.
Since passions are very low, the experience of soul is much pronounced and the muni continuously tries to indulge in
experiencing the soul. This process of purification of soul continues till he
climbs the spiritual ladder to attain 13th gunasthana wherein all
the soul harming karmas are destroyed and he achieves omniscience.
Interestingly the process of meditation
still continues till all karmas are discarded in 14th gunasthana and
the soul attains Siddhahood which is a
permanent state of liberation.
Therefore we see that meditation in Jainism
has very profound meaning and importance. It forms the basis of Moksha Marga
without traversing which the soul cannot attain Moksha.
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