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Paryushan Celebration
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This year, we celebrate the Paryushan Parva and Dashlaxna from September 7 to 24. Paryushan literally means abiding by the Self. As such, during those days, one has to remain tuned to the soul. Remaining so tuned is not easy, because we are not accustomed to that. Even the concept of abiding by the soul may seem a bit abstract. For all practical purposes it means abiding in equanimity. Jain canons therefore repeatedly state that the objective of undertaking every religious activity is to gain equanimity. Observing the austerities and performing different rituals during Paryushan days are laid down for that very purpose. If equanimity is gained by such observance and practice, they are worthwhile, otherwise they turn out to be lifeless rituals. Such mechanical activities hardly serve any purpose.
Observing Upväs is one of the ways to abide by the soul. Upväs literally means staying close to the soul. But it is normally equated with fasting and therefore people undertake long or short fasts during Paryushan. In scriptural terminology that austerity is termed as Anashan. Ashan literally means to cat and Anashan therefore means not to eat or to go without food. That is popularly termed as Upaväs Since Upväs, however, means abiding by the soul, the person observing that does not care for the physical aspects like appetite and happens to go without food. But abstaining from food is not the purpose of Upaväs.
Jainism does lay emphasis on austerities and lays down 12 types of austerities. Six of them are external and the other six are internal. Fasting is only one of the external austerities. Repentance, modesty, selfless service, study of the Self, meditation and spiritual concentration are the internal austerities and obviously more attention needs to be devoted to them. The last two, which are popularly known as Dhyan and Käusagga, constitute the most vital steps on the path of liberation. It is therefore worthwhile to discuss their significance at some length.
The ultimate objective of every religious activity is to gain liberation. We would however be more interested in an objective, which we can hope to reach during this life. That can be defined as giving up the evil tendencies and developing the good ones. In other words, one should avoid the vices and cultivate the virtues. Forgiveness or Kshamä is the most important virtue. All other virtues revolve around it. Kshamäpanä or atonement therefore happens to be the most important part of the Paryushan celebration.. Resorting to various religious activities, inclusive of fasting, is meant for cultivating the sense of forgiving. That enables us to atone for the wrong deeds and to extend forgiveness to every one.
During the life we come across a number of events and situations, some of which are to our liking and others are not. If they are to our liking, we look at them favorably and try to retain them. If they are not to our liking, we tend to hate, abhor or despise them. Such hating etc. leads to the sense of anger, frustration etc. We also tend to develop jealousy, animosity or hostility towards those, who 32/JAIN DIGEST FALL 1999 Jain Education International
by Manu Doshi, Chicago, IL
seem to us instrumental for such events. Such feelings and tendencies are known as Dwesh. That Dwesh is the root cause of perturbing the peace of mind. It is therefore laid down that during the Samvatsari Pratikraman, at least, we should atone for indulging in Dwesh towards any one and extend forgiveness to every one, inclusive of those whom we might be perceiving as enemies or adversaries.
Indulging in Dwesh may or may not actually hurt the person towards whom the Dwesh is targeted, but it surely hurts us. It is detrimental to our own physical and spiritual well being. Therefore, if one wants to be happy, he needs to give up that trait. For that very purpose, it is laid down to atone for the same. Such atonement can generate a genuine sense of forgiving. That sense softens the feelings and purifies the mind. Other virtues would automatically flow from such purified mind. Then, one would also try to avert the recurrence of ill will as well as evil tendencies and to start the future on a clean slate.
But what actually happens is that after forgiving all the beings on the occasion of Samvatsari, the old tendencies recur and we happen to indulge in Dwesh once again. That gives rise to the feelings of anger, animosity etc. towards those whom we perceive as working against us or as doing something that seems detrimental to our interests. How does that happen? When we had decided to avoid Dwesh, why do the bad feelings and evil tendencies arise? Was our decision not sincere or did we indulge in hypocrisy?
That happens, because our decision making apparatus functions at the conscious level. We are not aware of what lies at the subconscious level. At that level lie the stored up feelings and tendencies built long ago, may be, even during the earlier lives! The impact of such tendencies is too strong to be eradicated by decision at the conscious level. Since we are not even aware of the tendencies lying at the subconscious level, how can we succeed in removing or eradicating them?
Here comes the role of meditation or Dhyän. Contemplation, awareness and concentration constitute the varying degrees of Dhyän. Ashtang Yoga of Patanjali lays down Dhäranä, Dhyän and Samädhi as the last three phases of Yoga. Dhäranâ stands for contemplation, Dhyan for awareness and Samadhi for concentration. Of these three, Dhyan and Samadhi constitute the essence of meditation. For the time being, we are going to restrict ourself to Dhyan or awareness and indicate how that helps in removing the deep rooted tendencies.
When one gains spiritual inclination, he endeavors to overcome the evil tendencies that come to his notice. If the tendencies are mild, they can be easily overcome. The strong tendencies, however, put up stiff resistance; and if one tries to suppress them, they go underground and lie at the subconscious level. It means that those tendencies continue to exist in the dormant state, but the person concerned does not remain aware of their existence. That subcon
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