Ethical Doctrines in Jainism

SR No.: 006955
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kamalchand Sogani
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 2001
Total Pages: 322
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 8 MB

Page 255

VI. THE AINA AND THE NON-JAINA INDIAN ETHICAL DOCTRINES 233
world-illusion passes away only through meditation upon God and by entering into His being, says the Svetāsvatara Upanişad. According to the Bhagavad-Gītā, in order to ascend the sublime heights the Yogi has to banish all desires and all longing for possessions; he has to curb the mind and the senses, and then in solitude has to meditate on the supreme self by fixing the mind on the Ātman without allowing anything to distract it.2 The Mokşapāhuda says that he who is desirous of crossing the formidable ocean of Saṁsāra meditates upon the pure self after renouncing all passions, detaching himself from all worldly engagements, and observing silence. The tree of worldly existence cannot be eradicated by the Dravyaśramaņa who is occupied with the pleasures of the senses, but it is capable of being rooted out by the Bhāvaśramaņa with the axe of meditation. Just as a lamp which is unobstructed by wind continues to glow in a well-surrounded house, so the lamp of meditation in the absence of the wind of attachment keeps illuminating in the heart of the Bhāvaśramana. The Paramātmaprakāsa tells us that the Ātman which is incapable of being known by the Vedas, the Šāstras and the senses is accessible only to pure meditation. Notwithstanding the observance of moral discipline, the performance of austere penances and extensive scriptural study, the success in spiritual life is incapable of being achieved without the pursuance of meditation.7 Then there are certain pre-requisites of Yoga or meditation enunciated. The place is required to be pleasing to the mind and free from sounds; watery resorts should not be aching to the eyes. The ground need be even, clean and free from pebbles, fire and sand. One should select for practice a place in the still recesses of a cave. According to the Gitā, the Yogi should set his firm seat in a clean place, neither too high nor too low, covered with sacred grass, a deer-skin and a cloth, one over the other, for practising Yoga. The Jñānārņava supplies a long list of places which are to be avoided, and which are to be preferred for the practice of Dhyāna.10 For our purpose it will suffice to say that those places which are disturbing, captivating, unpleasant; and those which are noisyon account of crows, owls, asses, dogs, and the like, and those which are vitiated by thorns, uneven stones, bones, blood, etc., as well as those
1 Sve. Up. I, 1, 10. 2B.G. VI-10, 23, 24, 25, 26. 3 Mo. Pā. 26 to 28. 4 Bhāva. Pā. 122. 5 Ibid. 123.
6 Pp. I. 23. 7 Amita. Srāva. 96. 8 Šve. Up. II, 2, 10.
9 BG. VI. 11. 10 Jñrānā. XXVII 23 to 29; XXVIII 1 to 7.