Facets of Jaina Religiousness in Comparative Light

Author(s): L M Joshi
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 75

FACETS OF JAINA RELIGIOUSNESS unlike the ācāryas and upādhyāyas of Vedic-Brahmanic tradition who followed the "ordinary norm,” these sädhus are members of an ascetic order; they are ordained monks who have renounced home life, and whose sole aim is to exert (śrama) in the direction of spiritual perfection (siddhi) and peace (upaśama). They are known as śramanas and clearly contrasted with brāhmaṇas. The words śramana and mundaka (in spite of the samnyāsa-āśrama and the Mundaka-Upanişad) never found a respectable place in Brahmanical literature. They are, however, very sacred and esteemed words in the texts and documents of Jainism and Buddhism.
The notions of ācārya, upadhyāya, sādhu and guru are commonly found in almost the entire range of Indian literature.119 But there are important shades of difference in their meanings in different traditions of literature and ideology. In Buddhist and Jaina instances of these words we come across a considerable degree of agreement in their meanings. But between the Brahmanical and sramanical conceptions the differences are quite pronounced. Before we conclude this section we may add here a few comparative notes to the conceptions of ācārya, upādhyāya, sādhu, and guru.
In several later Vedic texts we find mention of ācārya. Usually he is conceived as a learned brāhmaṇa, a seer (rși), who has "studied" or "heard" (śuśruvān). The subject of his scholarship was Vedic lore, generally consisting of ritual texts and sacrificial techniques. The ācārya of Vedic conception was no ascetic; he was usually a householder with wife, children and property. He acted as the priest and was respected on account of his learning in the Veda and his religious vocation. Towards the end of the Vedic period which coincided with the age of Sākyamuni Buddha and Vardhamāna Tirthankara, the Upanisads introduced into Vedic tradition certain new ideas and dimensions of ascetic spirituality already diffused by śramaņas and munis. From these remarkable texts we learn that the office of an acārya or guru was no longer a monopoly of brāhmaṇas; several brilliant teachers of Upanişadic philosophy were powerful monarchs of ksatriya lineage, such as Ajātaśatru, Pravāhaņa-Jaivali, Aśvapati-Kaikeya and Janaka-Videha. These royal ācāryas also were householders. The Mundaka-Upanişad shows that ascetic acāryas had now become known in Vedic circles. This text, like the Katha and the Svetāśvatara, is post-Buddhist in date. All these Upanişads reveal considerable influence of śramaņa thought as a result of which there is a gradual change in the nature and function of the acārya. He is now conceived as a knower of the brahman, the ultimate Reality sometimes identified with the atman. Liberated saints (yatis) who are freed from impurities (kṣīņadoşă), and whose passions
119.
Professor Jan Gonda has expressed the view that "all Vedic terms for the preceptor are unquestionably Indo-European or Indo-Aryan in origin : guru, acārya, upadhyāya, $rotriya." See his Change and Continuity in Indian Religion, p. 262. This book contains a very valuable and detailed historical discussion on "the Guru", pp. 229-283.