14 Marganas: A key to understanding Jain Scriptures

Whenever we talk of transmigration of soul, a common question which immediately arises is that how to understand the complex Jain Scripture where one talks of so many karmas effecting the Jiva in so many different ways. Fortunately Omniscient in his sermons has provided the wonderful tools  for the same. These are the two  methods for classifying the jiva in the entire universe.  The first one is called Ogha (General ) which describes all the Jivas of the universe in a single scale. This is known as Gunasthana which we have dealt with in a previous article. Simply speaking it categorizes the Jivas into two categories. One, who will continue to transmigrate endlessly and second, for whom the end of journey is now visible. After all the entire Jain scripture deals with just one objective i.e. how to attain Moksha ? Worldly riches or the enjoyments of heaven are of no interest since one knows that they are transient. Therefore the first gunasthana  which is  Mithyatva( wrong belief) ,includes all those who are yet to climb the ladder or those who have fallen from the ladder. The Gunasthana 2 to 14 represents the journey of remaining few Jivas in this universe who will sooner or later attain Moksha.

The second method is called  Adesh ( Detail) which provides the details of Jiva with respect to 14 selected parameters. Wonderfully  just 14 parameters are sufficient to classify all the Jivas of the universe in a unique manner comprehensively. These are known as Marganas.  By definition Margana means a method by which Jiva are known. These are 14 as described below:

         1)  Gati ( birth) 2) Indriya ( senses)  3) Kaya ( body)   4) yoga  5) veda( gender)  6) Kashaya ( passions) 7) Jnana ( knowledge)  8) Samyam( self restraint)  9) Darshan ( vision)  10) Leshya ( Aura)11) Bhavya  ( Eligible)   12) Samyaktva ( right belief) 13 ) Samgyi ( with mind)  14 ) Aahar ( food)

It is better to learn these Marganas by their Hindi names itself  since they are used extensively in the Jain Scriptures. 

In this article it is planned to describe them briefly first and they elaborated further again in subsequent articles. For reference please see Samyak Gyan Chandrika by Pandit Todarmalji.

What these Marganas imply is that a particular  Jiva will always these 14 characteristics by which he could be identified. He will always have  one of the Gati , have Indriya, kaya, yoga etc as defined by them  in the worldly form. Further these are also inter related so that all possible corresponding questions are answered. For example a Jiva in Naraka gati ( hell) may have how many types of senses or knowledge , gender etc. Hence once one learns these marganas , he can understand the basic foundation of the Jain scriptures.

1)      Gati ( Birth)  Margana : These represent the types of births a Jiva may take in transmigration. These are four only (i) Narak gati ( hell)  ( ii) Manushya gati ( human)  ( iii) Deva gati ( heaven) and (iv) Tiryanch gati ( animal).   What it means that a Jiva will always be found in one of the four gati  in the worldly state. The fifth gati which is not included here is Siddha gati which is Moksha. However since subject is that of the world , which results because of fruition of karmas,  the fifth state is not included which is independent of karmas.

2)      Indriya ( senses) Margana : These represent the number of senses a particular Jiva inherits when he takes birth. They are from one to five hence the Jiva is correspondingly known as Ekendriya(one sensed), Dwindriya( two sensed), Trindriya ( three sensed), Chaturindriya( four sensed)  and Panchandriya ( five sensed). Further the senses increase in a designated order only. The first sense is always touch, then second sense is taste, third is smell, fourth is vision, and fifth is hearing. Therefore a four sensed Jiva will never have hearing and a three sensed Jiva will never have hearing and vision and so on.

3)      Kaya ( Body) Margana : Primarily there are two types of bodies. One is known as Sthavarkaya ( Stationary) who are not able to shy away from danger. Second is known as Trasakaya ( fearful ) who are able to run away from danger. The stahvarlaya  itself is of five kinds known as Prithvikaya ( earth as body) , Jalakaya ( water as body), Agnikaya ( fire as body) , vayukaya ( air as body), Vanaspatikaya( vegetable as body) which are all one sensed Jivas incapable of movement. Still correctly speaking , it is due to fruition of Sthavar Naam Karma which is cause of inheriting such body. Naam Karma is one of the eight types of karma which decides various features of the Jiva body. The Trasakaya includes all animals above single sensed, humans, Naraki and Devas.

4)      Yoga margana: Yoga itself is the vibration activity of the soul space. This activity occurs under the influence of sharir naam karma which is the karma responsible for having a body of the Jiva. Further due to desires of activity of mind , speech or body the three types of yoga activity occurs known as mana, vachan and kaya yoga. Mana yoga itself is of four types known as Satya ( truth), asatya ( false), Ubhaya ( both), anubhaya( none of the two) depending upon activities which occur within the mind to generate truth, untruth, both or none of the two. The Vachan yoga is also of four types similarly known as Satya, asatya, ubhaya and Anubhaya which correspond to yoga activities of speech to generate truth, untruth, both or none of the two. Lastly the Kaya yoga is of seven types : Audarik, AudarikMishra, Vaikriyik, Vaikriyik Mishra, Aaharak, AaharakMishra and Karmana Kaya Yoga. Under the influence of Audarik sharir Naamkarma the activities which occur within the soul space to accept future karmas is  called audarik kaya yoga. Such kaya yoga is present for all Humans and Tiryanchas( animals). For the same types of Jivas the kaya yoga applicable under incomplete state of the body while taking birth is Audarik Mishra kaya yoga. Vaikriyik Kaya yoga is applicable for the bodies of Naraki or devas. Vaikriyik Mishra is the yoga of the same Jivas under incomplete stage. Aaharak  and AaharakMishra yoga are applicable for Munis who form a secondary body to visit Omniscient in another place inaccessible to others. Lastly Karmana Kaya yoga is the yogic activity present  when the Jiva is transmigrating to take up new birth. This stage the Jiva has only Karmic body and is known as Vigrah Gati where  the Jiva has given up previous body and is moving to take birth in new incarnation. This step may take maximum of 3 samay period.

5)      Veda (Gender) Margana : Jivas are identified by three types of gender they can have namely, male, female and transgender. However the important thing to note is that the dravya veda ( physical gender) need not be same as bhava veda ( mental gender) in the case of humans and animals. The Narakis are always transgender and Devas have only male and female. In humans and Tiryanchas all three types are possible. However , Tiryanch  from 1-4 senses are invariably transgenders. Veda is  decided by the corresponding naam karma fructified at the time of birth. It may be noted that bhava veda remains same throughout a typical incarnation. Another important thing to note is that once karmas pertaining to Vedas are destroyed/subdued, the Jiva  becomes Apagat Vedi, in 9^th Gunasthana. Further Omniscient is also Apagat Vedi ( beyond gender) who has destroyed all karmas pertaining to gender.

6)      Kashaya ( Passion)Margana : Four primary passions are known as anger, pride, deceit and greed which occur on account of fruition of corresponding Mohaniya Karma. These have four levels each known as Anantanubandhi, Apratyakhyanavaran, Pratyakhyanavaran and Samjwalan in the decreasing order of intensity. As one climbs the Gunasthana ladder of spirituality, the stronger passions are subdued and the weaker ones are fructifying .  All Jivas irrespective of gati keep indulging in passion of one form or other.

7)      Jnana ( Knowledge) Margana :  All jivas have knowledge even if he is a  Nigod born single sensed Jiva. Only the quantum varies which can be highest in human birth. Knowledge is obscured by fruition of Gyanavaraniya karma and due to it being subdued and suppressed the Jiva gains knowledge at given moment. However in absence of right belief the knowledge is wrong . The three types of wrong knowledge are called Kumati Jnana, Ku Sruta Jnana and Ku Avadhi Jnana. The first one is sensory knowledge. Second is secondary knowledge generated due to senses and mind. Third is clairvoyance but corrupted due to wrong belief. There are five types of right knowledge for Jivas having right belief known as Mati Jnana, Sruta Jnana, Avadhi Jnana, Manah paryaya Jnana and Keval Jnana. The first three are opposite of the three wrong knowledges.   The fourth is telepathic knowledge available to selected Munis. The last is Keval Jnana or Omniscience which is attained after destroying all Gyanavarniya Karmas in 13^th Gunasthana.

8)      Samyam ( self restraint ) Margana : To be able to control the desires pertaining to different senses and  passions is known as Samyam. They are invariably accompanied with right knowledge. Those without such restraint are known as Asamyami . In Samyami there are six types which are known as Samyamasamyam , Samayik, Chhedopasthapana, Pariharvidhuddhi, Sookshmasamparaya and Yathakhyata Charitra. Out of these the first one is practiced by animals and humans in 5^th Gunasthana and remaining are practiced in higher levels humans only. The last Yathakhyata Charita is purest form of conduct which is experienced from 11^th Gunasthana onwards to even the omniscient where in all the Mohaniya karma has been destroyed.

9)      Darshan ( vision) Margana : All jivas have vision of some kind even though they may not have eyes. This is known as Achakchhu Darshan ( vision without eyes) which occurs prior to knowledge pertaining to corresponding senses. Vision with eyes is known as Chakchhu Darshan. Besides these two, Avadhi Darshan occurs to those Jivas who have Avadhi Jnana and Keval Darshan occurs to those with Keval Jnana. Thus there are four types of visions.

10)   Leshya ( Aura) Margana : Leshya is defined as the activities of yoga under the influence of passions. Yoga itself is of the activities of mind, speech or body. Leshya is represented as an aura of the jiva in Dravya ( physical) or Bhava ( mental ) form  and is responsible for the bondage of different types of karmas to the Jiva. These are six types represented as colours namely Krishna (black), Neel ( blue), Kapot(grey), Peet(yellow), Padma( Pink) and Shukla(white). Although in reality there are innumerable combination of colours , for definition purpose the six forms are described. The Krishna  Leshya is worst  and is existent with all Jivas taking birth in 7^th hell all the time. The Shukla Leshya is  purest and is applicable to higher order Munis and Devas. Once the karmas are destroyed the Ayog kevali ( 14^th Gunasthana) and Siddha bhagwan are known as Aleshya  i.e without Leshya.

11)   Bhavya ( Eligible) Margana: Just as all seeds are incapable of germinating, similarly there are certain number of Jivas who would never attain right belief and therefore can never attain Siddhahood. This is an inherent property of Jiva independent of karmas and they are known as Abhavya (Ineligible). The remaining are capable hence are known as Bhavya ( Eligible). However it does not mean that all eligible shall attain Siddhahood since otherwise the world would not exist. Only a finite number attain Siddhahood in a finite period and since the number of Bhavya Jiva in the universe is infinitely infinite , this number would never be exhausted.

12)   Samyaktva (right belief) Margana : This margana represents the type of right belief a jiva may be having. Totally six types are possible. First is Mithya Drishti ( wrong believer) which are prevalent in most of the universe. Under suppression of Mithyatva karma the Jiva first attains Upasham Samyaktva . The Upasham is a transient state which leads to more stable state known as Vedak Samyaktva. However Jiva may fall before reaching stable state to 2^nd Gunasthana which is known as Sasadan Samyaktva when the JIva is just ready to fall into Mithyatva. There is also an intermediate state known as Samyak Mithyatva which is a mixed state of right and wrong belief which occurs in 3^rd Gunasthana . People from 1^st Gunasthana may climb into 3^rd or fall from 4^th 5^th or 6^th. Lastly there is Kshayik Samyaktva which represents permanent right belief from which a Jiva can never fall. This can be achieved if the Mithyatva karma is totally destroyed by Jiva. Thus in all six types of Samyaktvas can be  experienced by Jivas .

13)   Samgyi( with mind) Margana: The Jivas who have mind apart from five senses are known as Samgyi while those who do not have are known as Asamgyi.  This capability is in accordance with lack of obscuration of the karmas which obscure the mind. Only in Jivas with 5 senses the both types exist. Jivas less than 5 senses are always Asamgyi.

14)   Aaahar ( food) Margana: There are three types of bodies feasible to Jivas namely Audarik ( human and animal), Vaikriyik( heaven and hell), Aahark ( Muni) and capability to accept the Nokarma particles in the body for activities of mind, speech or body is called Aahar. Primarily these are material particles absorbed by the body to sustain itself and is not conventional food . All the Jivas are consuming these particles at all times hence they are Aaharak most of the time. Only time they do not consume these particles is when they do not have body which happens at the time of transmigration from one body to next. This can be a maximum period of 3 samay for which Jiva is Anaaharak ( without food) .The only other time a Jiva can be Anaaharak is when he has attained Keval Jnana and does Kevali Samudghat to equalize the ayu karma with naam and gotra karmas.

In this manner 14 Marganas are used to comprehensively describe the state of a given Jiva. Further there are cross correlation between them which help in fully understanding Jiva form. For example a Naraki Jiva would have only five sensed, Samgyi, Trasakaya, transgender. He would have one of the 4 passions at given time , one of the 3 inferior leshyas and so on. The Jain scripture describes the rules pertaining to their numbers, period etc. quite  extensively so that one can visualize the characteristics of Jivas quite clearly.