Jain Center of America NY 2005 06 Pratishtha

Author(s): Jain Center of America NY
Publisher: USA Jain Center America NY

Page 167

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The Sky-clad Digambaras and the Murtipujak Shvetambaras worship the Jina idols in their own way. Both of them differ in their attitudes towards ornamentation of the Jina images and preparing the Aangi. The Digambar images are plain, simple, bare, unpainted and unadorned, the Shvetambar idols have an altogether different look, with eyes painted with different colors or glass eyes affixed permanently. Several other images have permanent forehead ornaments of gold, silver, and precious stones. After the Ashtaprakari Pooja is done with, the shravak enjoys decorating the idol with bits of precious colored stones, flowers, cotton, woolen strings, golden strings, gold and silver foils etc. to give it the real Royal gaze. On festivals and special occasions the images are a wonderful sight to behold - sparkling with the rare, scintillating brilliance of glitter and jewels, adorned with metal breastplates and the tilak. Whatever be the mode of worship, it is the shuddha-bhava that really matters.
Worshipping the formless reality by unthought thought is considered to be the best kind of worship. Even the erudite ganadharas performed the bhaav pooja of the tirthankaras by reciting the Loggassa sutraChatur-vinshati-stava sutra with great devotion But when one finds it difficult to concentrate on the abstract, worship of form alone is appropriate, as human beings of the 5th Ara have not yet reached those great spiritual heights where they can dispense with all sorts of symbols and rituals and devote themselves to purely abstract principles of bhava-pooja.
One may wonder, can the worshipping of an idol or decorating it be an ideal mode of showing one's devotion to the Almighty? Why should one pray to a God, who is incapable of giving anything or being helpful in any manner? Well, the Tirthankaras are adored, anointed, ornamented, bejeweled and venerated from a different viewpoint altogether. They are worshipped whole-heartedly for the innumerable attributes - gunas that they possess Moreover, decorating the anointed idols serves a dual purpose. Firstly it keeps one away from other worldly matters and thereby keeps a check on the asrava and binding of new karmas. Secondly, it facilitates the shedding off of the past karmas. Shubha activity in all forms, be it performance of the Ashtaprakari pooja or decorating the idol with dazzling Aangis, surely helps to subside the inner passions, keeps the otherwise ever-wandering mind calm and cool which in turn leads to the inflow of meritorious karma. Thus all thoughts, words and deeds that lead to meritorious karmas ultimately helps the soul reach great heights and is therefore considered to be important in the path of ultimate liberation.
MUKHADA NI MAYA LAGI, ANTAR MA PRIT RE JAGI BHAV-BHAV NI PEED JO NE, PAL EK MA RE BHAGI