ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 01

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 234

SCHOOL
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SELF STUDY IS THE SUPREME AUSTERITY,
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2.1.3 Others
There are other eternal celebrations, like 8th and 14th day of every fortnight for Digambara Jains; for Śvetāmbara Jains 2nd and 10th day when they keep fasts and spend the day in the temples. These occasions are known as Prosadhopavāsa. Similarly every day in the early morning and late evening, Jains do perform pūjā or sāmāyika to start and end the day properly. If we study these festivals deeply, we shall see their relevance to the karma theory and the ethical postulates of Jains.
STUDY NOTES version 5.0
2.2.1 Event oriented: Akşaya-tṛtiyā
It is an annual festival celebrated on the third day of the bright fortnight of the month of Baiśākha. Bhagavāna Ādinātha, the first tirthamkara of Jains did not take any food for the first six months (?) of his monk hood, as nobody knew how to offer food to the monks. It is said that he reached Hastinapura where King Śreyāmsa, through the remembrances of his earlier lives, knew how to offer the food and hence offered sugarcane juice properly to Ādinātha. He accepted it and then taught the laity the manner and the importance of giving food to the monks in particular and CHARITY in general. Since then this day is celebrated as a festival, especially at Hastinapura. Lot of Jains keep extended fasts prior to this day, then go with their family to Hastinapura and let the new members of the family offer them sugarcane juice so that the tradition of offering food to the elders in the family continues.
2.2.2 Event oriented: Śruta pañcami
After the emancipation of Lord Mahāvīra, the Jain canonical knowledge in the form of twelve limbs was getting lost due to the declining memory and laxity of conduct of the monks. So Acārya Dharsena, around 1st century BC, while meditating at mount Girnar in Gujarat and having partial knowledge of the most difficult and detailed twelfth limb, called Dristivāda or Jain philosophy, felt that this knowledge may even get either lost or distorted after his death. So he called two most intelligent monks from South India, taught them all the knowledge he had and asked them to compile it in the form of a book so that it could be available to everybody in unchanged form. These two monks, known as Puspadanta and Bhútabali completed this canonical text, known as Satkhandagama of Digambara Jains, on the fifth day of the bright fortnight of the month Jyestha. Since then this day is celebrated as Śruta parcami by Digambara Jains.
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