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Exposition of Pratikramana Stotras
rituals. Any religious activity, especially Sämäyika and Pratikramana, are most beneficial when performed in the presence of an ascetic teacher. When it is not possible to have the presence of an ascetic teacher, a holy book, preferably containing Navakara Mantra, Panchindiya Sutra, a religious symbol or a picture of an ascetic teacher can be placed on a wooden stand at a certain height (between the nose and the navel), as a symbolic representation of the ascetic preceptor.
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It is very important to keep the image of spiritual master in mind while performing the rituals; otherwise performing religious activities is fruitless and does not produce true beneficial effects.
Ächärya: Ächärya is the spiritual head of the monastic congregation (monastic order, Sangha). Ächärya has following 36
attributes:
Control over pleasures and pains of the five-sense organs. The five sense organs are; skin (touch), tongue (taste), nose (smell), eyes (sight) and ears (hearing).
The categories of each sense are:
1. Eight types of touches: cold, warm, soft, hard, large/heavy, small/light, smooth and rough.
2. Five types of tastes: hot, bitter, rusty, sour and sweet.
3. Two types of odors: pleasant and foul.
4. Five types of colors: black, green, red, yellow and white, and
5. Three types of hearings: live (sachitta), through some media (achitta) and mixed (misra).
Nine ways prescribed to observe total celibacy are:
a. One should not stay where there are women, animals and eunuchs, b. One should not talk to women in a passionate manner, c. a man should occupy seat previously occupied by a woman after a minimum of 48 minutes (2 ghadi) and a woman should wait for 9 hours (3 prahar) before occupying a seat previously occupied by a
