We have traced the journey of a jīva along the upward path that leads through the destruction of karma, by way of the fourteen upward steps and the keeping of the twelve vows and the eleven Pratimā, to monkhood. It only remains to us to note the different ranks a man may hold as an ascetic before he finally attains mokṣa.
Sādhu.First, he is just an ordinary ascetic or sādhu; if he be a Digambara, he will wear no clothes and live in the forest, lost to the world and immersed in meditation, eating only once a day and tearing out his hair as it grows. Nowadays one hears of only two or three Digambara ascetics. If he be a Śvetāmbara[1] or a Sthānakavāsī,[2] he will move from Apāsaro to Apāsaro clad in white clothes.
Upā-
dhyāya. The next step to which he can rise is that of Upādhāya or instructor. An exceptionally clever monk may be chosen from amongst the others as teacher, when he is expected to study the scriptures and teach them to his fellow monks. Amongst the Tapagaċċha no monk can be chosen as an Upādhāyaya till he has been an ascetic for at least a year, but this does not seem to be always the rule with other sects. The scriptures he will most probably teach are the Uttarādhyayana Sūtra, the Upāsaka Daśāṅga Sūtra, and the Bhagavatī Sūtra. The last, the Bhagavatī Sūtra, holds almost the same position amongst many Jaina that Hindus give to the Bhagavadgītā or Christians to the Gospels.
