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JAIN JOURNAL
The difference between prayer and sāmāyika is brought out in the following table :
Prayer
Sāmāyika
Begging for forgiveness of sins | 1 and other boons from another
Exerting oneself to avoid sinning, by repenting for the sins already committed, and by resolving not to commit others in the future.
Renunciation of likes and dislikes, which is the cause of mental equanimity and leads to blissfulness of being.
13
1
Praise of a wrathful creator, jealous of his unity, by one who can never aspire to become his equal.
Praise of Tirthankaras, who have attained to perfection by their own exertion.
Devotion to one particular Tirthankara whose biography is to be taken as furnishing inspiration to one's own soul, the Perfect One having risen to the status of Divinity from the ordinary position of a sinful soul.
Correcting the prevalent error of the body being taken for the man, and the conquest of 'flesh'.
A glance at the left-hand side of the table suffices to demonstrate that the two chief characteristics of prayer are :
1. one's dependence upon another than one's own self, and 2. the denial of soul's divinity.
That there is nothing commendable, but everything objectionable in these elements will, we think, be quite plain to any one familiar with the nature of the soul and the effect of evil suggestion on its. career.
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