Jaina Gazette 1928

SR No.: 034890
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Ajitprasad, C S Mallinath
Publisher: Jaina Gazettee Office
Publication Year: 1928
Total Pages: 502
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 33 MB

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THE JAINA GAZETTE four for the middling. and six for the best. The sadhu sleeps only after midnight.
Twice daily, that is, in the morning at sunrise, and in the evening, at sunset, the sadhu will purify his seat to remove from it whatever insects may have crept on to it. During the day also he will carefully and tenderly remove from his seat, person, and the permissible articles that he keeps, all forms of insect life that may be there. He is governed by disciplinary rules in every matter that pertains to his living, and will not violate them in any manner. The time for food, according to the Scripture, is the period commencing at three gharis after sunrise and ending at three gharis (aghari=24 minutes) before sunset, though usually the time of the householder's morning meal is selected by the saint for his own. The sadhu refrains from walking during the night, or when he is unable to see the path before him clearly.
The saint does not stay at a small place more than one night, and not more than five days in a town, except in the rainy season when he will remain for four months (from the end of the month of Asarh to the end of the month of Kartik) in one place. He will not take food or water except in the prescribed manner, and keeps no store of anything by him. The water in his gourd is not meant for drinking, but only for the purposes of bodily purification, and it must be pure (sterilized) water, free from any kind of life. If thirst overtake him on a hot summer day, he must learn to combat it as best as he can. He can only have a drink of water at the householder's place, in the prescribed manner when taking his food. The saint, of course, wears no shoes, and does not travel in any kind of conveyances.
The saint's rules for sleeping are simple : he longs in the end to destroy the liability to sleep altogether, but till this is attained he lies down to sleep for a few hours after midnight. At any other time of the day or night he will not indulge in sleep. He sleeps on either side, stretched out or slightly bent, but he does not turn over during the night from one side to the other. His bed consisis of bare earth, a slab of stone, a mat of
straw, or a block of wood. If he spend his night in a bastika (a Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat