ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 04

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

Page 109

1.2.e
Jain Festivals (Parva) & Pilgrimage (T rtha y tra) Dr. Shugan Chand Jain
Both festivals and pilgrimages are the events / activities which provide us an opportunity to break the monotony of routine daily life and do things differently so that we get refreshed and move forward in life with greater enthusiasm. Jain philosophy being highly spiritual: emphasizes these events to expedite the purification of soul and attain bliss ultimately. Hence its festivals and pilgrimage aim to give its followers a deeper insight into the path of spiritual purification. To encourage the laities in observing these events as per the Jain sacred literature, its c ryas have enumerated umpteen benefits like social, cultural, religious and philosophical accrued by the practitioner as a result. Nemicandra Bha dari Upade asidha ta Ratnamala (verse 26) says:
So jayai je a vihi sa vaccharac um sidha supaw i da dhay aj yai jasa mah p u dhammamai
SORS OF JAN
Hail those great monks and c ryas who have established the celebration of festivals like sa vat iri, aştanika, da lakṣa a etc due to which even the down trodden and condemned people become religious.
We shall now briefly review these two important aspects of Jain rituals here.
A. Festivals
Festivals are normally associated with celebration i.e. of merry making/ exchanging gifts and having agood time. Once a festival is over we are again engrossed in the rudimentries of our worldly existence. Every community has its own festivals and ways of celebrating them. Festivals are an integral part of human life in all societies in general and Jains in particular. Most of the communities think of acquiring new worldly objects, cleaning and decorating their dwellings, enjoying sumptuous foods, merry making etc to celebrate festivals. When we observe festivals of a community, we can learn about its culture, its make up, objectives and principles propagated.
For Jains, festivals have a different connotation. In as much as they are celebrations, yet the main objective is long term accomplishment of Bliss and not just momentary pleasures. Since Jain philosophy aims at attaining the ultimate i.e. state of BLISS and eternal existence in that state; its festivals aim at taking its followers away from the worldly pleasures and bring them back to the path of spiritual purification for moving forward in its journey to attain BLISS.
Thus the distinguishing characteristic of Jain festivals is to consider them as occasions / events in our life which break the monotony of our daily routine life and invigorate us with new energy and thinking so that we can enjoy life and prepare ourselves to achieve our long-term objectives. If we analyze our life sans festivals, we shall find that life is boring and without charm. The festivals e are thus the occasions when we get away from the ordinary and do extra-ordinary things like take stock of our life, and learn new things or do, undertake activities for long term forward movement of our life. Festivals are thus catalysts to provide a new direction, a new inspiration and look into life and world at large.
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The underlined theme of Jain thinking is, 'We have been going through millions of transmigratory (birth-death- birth) cycles since beginning-less time and will continue to do so until we understand the nature of soul and give a turn to our knowledge and way of life to attain the pure soul state.' Thus festivals for Jains are the opportunities to enhance their spiritual beliefs by shedding wrong beliefs (mithy tva), learning more about their religious practices and enhancing their conduct to be closer to the stated right conduct in the scriptures. True celebration of festivals for Jains implies enhancing self-control (sa yama), giving up sensual pleasures, knowing and experiencing more about pure soul.
STUDY NOTES version 4.0