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KARMA PBILOSOPHY
135
This idea of the vrata as above described is peculiarly Jain; there is no promising on oath to a superior deity or person; it is not a command or a decree issued by a deity to his subjects or creatures. The breaking of the vows means degradation; in the Jain philosophy, if a person breaks his vows he is degraded (that is all; he is not damned for ever). But the Vedic idea of a vrata is very different. (how or in what way different was not given.)
The 12 vratas which a lay person (not a monk) can take may be divided into three classes:
1.
The first five are called lesser vratas (anuvratas), which means lesser as compared with the vratas of the monk.
2.
The next three vratas are called guna vratas. Guna literally means virtues, but here it means that they give a kind of nourishment to the first five; they support and are helpful to the first five.
3. The last four are called Shiksha vratas, literally disciplinary. They are such that when you are practising them you are making a preparation for the monk life.
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