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84 :: Aspects of Jaina Religion
The main step of nirjarā, i.e., shedding of the karmas, is the observance of tapas (penance or austerities), which is included in the Right Conduct. Tapas is of two kinds, viz., (a) bāhya tapa, i.e., external austerities, referring to food and physical activities, and (b) ābhyantara tapa, i.e., internal austerities, referring to spiritual discipline. Each of these two types of tapa is of six kinds. (A) The Bāhya Tapa
The six external austerities are as follows: anasana (fasting), avamaudarya (eating less than one's fill, or less then one has appetite for), vrtti-parisaṁkhyāna (taking a mental vow to accept food from a householder only if certain conditions are fulfilled without letting any one know about the vow), rasaparityāga (daily renunciation of one or more of six kinds of delicacies, namely, ghee, i.e., clarified butter, milk, curd, sugar, salt and oil), vivikta-sayyāsana (sitting and sleeping in a secluded place, devoid of animate beings) and kāyaklesa (mortification of the body so long as the mind is not disturbed). (B) The Ābhyantara Tapa
The six kinds of internal austerities are: prāyaschitta (expiation or confession and repentance of sins), vinaya (reverence or modest behaviour), vaiyāvíttya (rendering service to other saints), svādhyāya (study of scriptures), vyutsarga (giving up attachment to the body) and dhyāna (concentration of mind).
These external and internal penances show what a rigorous life of self-denial the ascetics have to lead. The ascetic is to sustain the body with minimum feeding and to take maximum work from it in the attainment of his spiritual ideal. In Jainism an elaborate technique of fasting has been evolved and the ascetic is trained all along his career so efficiently that when the hour of death comes, he accepts voluntary fasting and gives up the body as easily as one would throw off the old garment. The ascetic has always to take exercise in fasting by observing series of fasts variously arranged.
Among the internal penances special significance is at
