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Jains give very high importance to being celibate. The fifth anuvrata, called Brahmacarya or svadāra-santosa vrata for the householders, is defined as follows: 10
To limit one's sexual activities to the married partner of opposite sex only. All other women are called as those who are married to others or are not married /owned by anybody else (e.g. unmarried women and prostitutes etc). The five flaws (or abstinences) of this vow are further given as follows:
Indulgence in arranging marriage of others (other than own children or dependent brothers and sisters), to have sex by organs not meant for sexual activities (e.g. masturbation, homosexuality or oral sex etc), to make bodily or vocal gestures which provoke sex, to be mentally engaged profusely in sex and to deal or socialize with prostitutes or women with loose character.
To observe celibacy Tattvārtha-sūtra advices us to abstain from listening to stories arousing sex (or watching movies these days), to look or observe the sex arousing body parts of women, to reminiscence past activities, to give up eating aphrodisiac foods and to abstain from decorating own body.
Besides the above, Jain texts talk of sexual interactions primarily for pro-creation and ask its followers to avoid sexual activities on special and holy days and places (e.g. 8th and 14th of each fortnight, religious holy days and festivals and at pilgrim or religious places).
Such descriptions and importance assigned to celibacy exert special caution on Jains to abstain from sexual interactions. Thus Jains normally practice and preach (through educating and self examples) the preventive measures to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and evils.
For curing such diseases, Jains do set up hospitals and dispensaries but not specifically for such diseases. To provide social acceptance to patients, Jains have the six essential duties which include Pratikramana (recalling mistakes and seek punishment and promise not to repeat them in future) and its sarvodaya doctrine.
10 Ratnakaranda-śrāvakācāra, verse-58,59
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STUDY NOTES version 5.0
