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JAIN WOMAN
Jain Digest summer 2007
the universe. Traditions laid down hundreds of years ago were right at that time, but much water has flown under the bridge since then. Circumstances have changed now; can it be right to cling to these old systems and make a fuss about it?
The cells of the skin die and are replaced. The tree's bark renews itself from time to time. The old peels off to reveal the new. Snakes shed their skin; trees and shrubs shed their leaves and sprout tender new ones. How then can man be the exception and hold out against change and renewal? To deny change, to oppose evolution, is futile. The reactionary endangers his own being. If a river ceased to flow, if trees stopped changing their leaves, if the body refused to cleanse the old blood in its veins, could they still exist? True wisdom comes from man coordinating the old and the new. It lies in sacrificing the urge to preserve the status quo, and in embracing the path of change and evolution. The truth is not in inertia; it is in motion. Real discernment is in waking up to the reality of things as they are. The meaning of life is movement, integration. We find death where there is inactivity, inertia and resistance to change. A poet has said:
He who is alive can bend He who will not bend is like a corpse.
A living body is never stiff and unmoving. It is supple. A living mind is never prejudiced; it is not closed up in itself or absorbed in outmoded struggles. It is ever open to new ideas and thoughts.
The truly learned and wise are not bound by any particular way of thinking. They continue tranquilly on life's journey, by bridging the gap between the old and the new. Millions of years of human history have shown us that by nature man is evolving and progressing. For example, in the Yugaliya-yuga (the era of enjoyment), customs and rites were different because circumstances were different, but when men learned how to work in karma-bhumi-yuga (the action-era), the customs changed. The first emperor of this new action era, Rishabhdev, was instrumental in changing hundreds of old rituals. In that era brothers and sisters of the same family could marry, but he changed it and introduced a new system of marriage. As time goes by, countless new rites and observances come into being and the old ones fall into disuse. Change is necessary. It is a perfectly natural evolution and we should accept it.
In every age man adjusts and lives according to what nature
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dictates. Old customs are changed and new ones created. Old ways become obsolete, and new choices come to the fore. There is nothing wrong in this, it is not unnatural. Ideas, principles, and observances that have become outdated have to be replaced with new ideas, principles, and observances that meet present-day requirements. Tirthankar Parshvanath's disciples wore orange robes. They observed only four vows of renunciation, whereas Tirthankar Mahavir, mindful of the spirit of the age, changed this by stipulating white as the proper colour for the 'renouncer' and introduced the fifth vow one of celibacy. Why did he make these changes? They were necessary at that time. Attachment to old customs is like some people's attachment to their tattered old clothes. Every new order grows up out of the old one. It is possible that even Tirthankar Mahavir's reforms were opposed at the time because it is a well-known fact that man finds it hard to accept new ways.
We like to cling to the old and familiar. This is because we fear change. The mind remains suspicious of anything new. We don't have confidence in new ideas and systems at first; we are not sure whether they will prove successful or even convenient, but gradually they prove their usefulness. Only then do we give up clinging to the old beliefs. Similarly, just as new skin is formed underneath the flaking scales of the old, once a new idea or observance establishes itself, the old can be peeled away without any difficulty.
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History shows that whenever great Acharyas of the past have felt the need to change the observances of the times, they have done so without any hesitation. In this manner, new principles, beliefs, and types of behaviour have been promulgated in accordance with the needs of the age. Those attached to the old ways may have aired their suspicions or accused the Acharyas of laxity in their conduct, but the new ideas, proving their worth, silenced their opposition.
Like the movement of time, change too is inevitable. Nobody can stop it. It is unavoidable. To resist it is to resist the most fundamental principle of creation. If you study the principle of the development of human evolution, you will find not a trace remains of those who would not change with the times, whereas those who go with the flow survive and prosper.
About two hundred years after Tirthankar Mahavir's nirvana, circumstances in society changed and with that
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