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RELIGION & CULTURE OF THE JAINS
for no god or goddess can attain nirvāṇa without being born as a man. Man alone can practise the requisite self-control and austere discipline, capable of purging the soul of all spiritual impurities, and become the arhat, the Jina, the Tirthankaras and attain nirvāṇa, the state of Siddhahood. It is, therefore, the pious and righteous human being, man or woman, who is loved, venerated and adored by those gods and goddesses of the heaven, who are themselves devotees of the Jina. Certain Jaina sects, mostly the growth of medieval times, such as the Svetāmbara Sthānakavāsī and Terapanthĩ, and the Digambara Tarana-panthī, do not favour the building of temples and installing images in them. Hence, they do not indulge in image-worship proper which involves necessary ritual, but even they are not opposed to worship as such and accept the principle underlying worship and devotion. As a matter of fact, worship has a dual aspect bhāva-pūjā and dravya-pūjā. The former is indicative of the mental attitude, and the spirit of devotion and dedication of the worshipper, which make him or her contemplate, eulogise and adore the attributes and the person of the Worshipful One, he or his representation image, etc.) may be or may not be there. This kind of abstract worship needs no ritual or accessories thereto, and can be performed anywhere and at any time and by anybody, lay or ascetic. This bhāva-pūjā is the basis of the dravya-pujā which is the concrete, obvious or formal worship, and is accompanied by appropriate ritual. The ascetics mostly perform bhāva-pujā, as also do such of the laity as have no facilities (temple, image, etc.) for doing dravya-pūjā available to them, or are averse to taking recourse to formal worship for sectarian or other reasons. Others usually perform this dravya-pūjā which implies bhāva-pūjā, upholding it as the first of the six daily duties of a lay aspirant. It is, however, understood that no formal worship, however much elaborate, can bear the desired fruit unless it is backed by
| SR No. | 002009 |
| Book Title | Religion and Culture of the Jains |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Jyoti Prasad Jain |
| Publisher | Bharatiya Gyanpith |
| Publication Year | 1999 |
| Total Pages | 258 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English, Religion, & Culture |
| File Size | 16 MB |