Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

Page 288

10. JAINA DOGMATICS AND MORAL AND SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE
269
cause grief and mourning to one's fellow creatures. It will be seen that the third Guņavrata is designed to supplement the great vow of Ahimsa, and Somadeva goes on to say that, by renouncing the Anarthadandas, the
earns the friendship of all creatures and becomes their lord. Deception and violence practised at the instance of others, the overloading of beasts of burden, and causing excessive suffering to them amount to violation of this vow,
XII) The four Śikṣāvratas are treated in detail in Book VIII, which practically brings to an end Somadeva's masterly discourse on the Jaina religion. They are sāmāyika or customary worship, prosadhopäsana or religious fasting, niyama or limitation of worldly enjoyment, and dūna or charity.
We have in our work a comprehensive treatment of sāmāyika or the Jaina system of worship, which primarily resolves itself into the worship of Arhats, that is, the all-holy and omniscient Tirthamkaras or Patriarchs. The worship is of two kinds according as it is done with or without the use of idols.
a) The kind of worship in which idols are dispensed with is regulated by what is known as samayn-samīcāra-vidhi, which prescribes the adoration of certain entities, concrete and abstract, held sacred by Jainism. They are the Five Parameșthins or Exalted Beings and the Three Jewels (Right Belief, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct). All these should be visualized on a piece of birch bark or cloth or wooden board or a slab of stone or on sand or the earth or in the air or in one's heart. The salutations and hymns accompanying the votive offerings are composed by Somadeva himself in ornate prose and verse, and they rank high in Jaina devotional literature.
The Five Parameșthins are adored first. They are, according to Somadeva's interpretation, the Arhat, that is, one of the Tīrthaṁ karas or Patriarchs endowed with superhuman qualities; the Siddha or one who has realised within himself the luminous presence of the Infinite Soul; the Acārya or the teacher who regulates the social order according the principles of Jainism; the Upādhyāya or the learned preceptor who has mastered
1 शिखण्डिकुक्कुटश्येनबिडालव्यालबभ्रवः । विषकण्टक शस्त्राग्निकषापाशकरज्जवः ॥ पापाख्यानाशुभाध्यानहिंसाक्रीडावृथा
क्रियाः। परोपतापपैशुन्यशोकाक्रन्दनकारिता ।। वधबन्धनसंरोधहेतवोऽन्येऽपि चेदृशाः । भवन्त्यनर्थदण्डाख्याः संपराय'
प्रवर्धनात् ।। पोषणं क्रूरसत्त्वानां हिंसोपकरणक्रि याम् । देशव्रती न कुर्वीत स्वकीयाचारचारधीः॥ 2 अनर्थदण्टनिर्मोक्षादवश्यं देशतो यतिः । सुहृत्तां सर्वभूतेषु स्वामित्वं च प्रपद्यते ॥ 3 वञ्चनारम्भहिंसानामुपदेशात् प्रवर्तनम् । भाराधिक्याधिकक्लेशौ तृतीयगुणहानये ॥ 4 i fa feria and that we ar: HTFR
1 P. 373.