Introduction to Jainism and its Culture

SR No.: 001605
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Balbhadra Jain
Publisher: Kundkund Gyanpith Indore
Publication Year: 2002
Total Pages: 334
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Religion, & Culture
File Size: 21 MB

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sentiment or feeling. Water is the symbol of termination of the cycles of birth and death. Sandalwood is that of the pacification of the heat of worldly torments. Rice is that of attaining the eternal sublime state. Flower is that of destruction of salacious feelings, Food is that of satiation of hunger. Lamp is that of removal of the darkness of attachment. Incense is that of destruction of eight types of karmas. Fruit is that of attaining liberation. And finally even the act of offering symbolizes the attaining of the impossible-to-offer status of Siddha.
Worship of god cannot be done in a state of impurity. For that both inner and outer purity are required. The outer purity includes clean body, clean offerings, clean clothes, and clean area. These are part of physical purity and are essential perquisites of worship. Inner purity is mental (bhāva) purity. With the help of material things we invite Bhagavāna in the world of our thoughts and feelings and fill it with His aura. When our thoughts are pervaded by Bhagavāna impurities like attachment and aversion will not remain there. However, if our thoughts are fraught with these impurities Bhagavāna will not appear there. Bhagavāna manifests in our thoughts complete with his physical, attributive, and modal (dravya-guna-paryāya) presence. Through knowledge we know him in his entirety and install him in our faith complete with his physical, attributive, and modal presence. This is the worship of a deity by a śrāvaka.
GURUPĀSANĀ (VENERATION OF THE HOLY TEACHER)
The second obligatory duty is worship or veneration of the teacher. This means respect, veneration, and ministration of a nirgrantha (knot-less; unclad) ascetic. Nirgrantha ascetics are epitomes of religion. They propagate and promote the path of liberation through their rigorous austerities and purity of conduct. They possess twentyeight basic virtues. A lay Jain (śrāvaka) offers his devotion only to such detached nirgrantha guru. Therefore, it is necessary for a śrāvaka to recognize a true guru. Every peacock-feather-broom and gourd-pot toting person cannot be accepted as a guru. It is also not doctrinally proper either to presume that every Digambara (unclad) ascetic as sacrosanct (dravyalingi) or to accept a scholarly householder as guru. All such intemperance is contradictory to the feeling of right faith. Only after judging and recognizing a true Digambara ascetic he should be accepted as a guru and offered the ascetic equipment (helpful in his
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