Guidelines to Mahavir Darshan

SR No.: 006758
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Satshrutseva Sadhna Kendra
Publisher: Satshrut Seva Sadhna Kendra
Publication Year: 1970
Total Pages: 70
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 4 MB

Page 34

LESSON VIII
PRATIMAS
The aim of Jain ethics is so to organize the combined activity of a society that its individuals may have the greatest possible number of facilities for attaining moksha or nirvana i. e. perfect peace and bliss of the soul. Thus, obviously, the rules of conduct, both for laymen and ascetics, must directly or indirectly be conducive to this central aim. Naturally, the rules for ascetics are stricter than those for laymen and provide, as it were a shorter, albeit harder, route to nirvana which is the goal for the layman also, but one which he reaches by a longer and slower process.
Here we do not propose to go into the rules of conduct for ascetics. Those who are interested in the subject will find the details in the Acharanga sutra and in Bhagavati-Aradhana.
The rigour of the ascetic life may be estimated to a certain extent by considering the more or less severe conditions which the Jain householder must adopt, if he rightly follows the Jain principles. The best way of exhibiting the rules of conduct for the Jain layman is to make clear the eleven stages in his life, i. e. the eleven pratimas. They are given below :
But before a Jain can go on to the pratimas, he must pass through two preliminary stages:
1. He must have faith in Jainism. He must study the doctrine and believe in it thoroughly and sincerely.
2. Then he must become, what is called a pakshika shravaka, a layman intent on following the path of salvation. His duties, as laid down in the Sagaradharmamrita by Pandit Asadhara are:
(1) To have faith in Jainism (2) To abstain from intoxicants (3) To abstain from flesh food
(4) To abstain from fruits which contain or are likely to contain insects, also from honey.