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PHILOSOPHY OF SOUL
373
It is not the complete meaning of the word 'penance', if you mean thereby fasting, dining once in a day or dining saltless eatables once in a day. Penances imply various means of external and internal purification and that is why penances are divided as external and internal. External penances have six divisions, viz., fasting, eating less than required, curtailing necessary food, curtailing desire for different tastes physical tortures and self-restraint (samlinta). Atonement, observance of religious formalities politely (Vinaya), serving the monks and the righteous (Vaiya Vachchha), religious studies, meditation and renunciation (Vyutsarga) are six forms of internal penance.
Thus there is no contradiction in our statement that Ilaychi Kumar obtained omniscience after resorting to meditation which is one of the forms of penances.
TWELVE KINDS OF PENANCES
Now we shall introduce twelve kinds of penances to which destruction of karmas is attributed.
1. Fasting : (Anashana)—In fasting, eating is entirely abandoned while in Ayambil or "one time dinner" eating more than once is abstained from. Fasting Ayambil or dining once tranquilises the senses and such condition is necessary for internal purification. Lord Mahavir during his career of devotion had taken to fasting. He fasted for 4,166 days in a period of 4,516 days. Thus he broke his fast only on 349 days, during which he consumed dry rice, baked pulses and flour. He abandoned juicy substances and he did not consume that eatable which was necessary for the maintenance of body. He also insisted on accepting only certain kinds of eatables under certain circumstances and only at the hands of a certain person. This sort of determination is technically called Abhigraha. His abhigraha which was fulfilled by Chandanbala was indeed of a very severe nature. Penances with Ayambilas are being practised in Jain community on a large scale and this sort of aggravated penance of observing hundred ayambilas is being practised by sublime souls at present.
2. Under-Dieting (Unodarika) : This penance is observed by eating lesser than what is required to fill the belly to the brim. Man's diet comprises of thirty-two morsels while that of a woman
uired to fill the belly to the brim
