Jain Gazette 1920 06

Author(s): Jagnanderlal Jaini, Ajit Prasada, C S Mallinath Jain
Publisher: Jaina Gazette Office

Page 27

THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.
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and choice phraseology of others, and partly to the enforced slavery of the intellect to a highly tangled and utterly useless system of syllogistical forms that have come to be labelled as Logic.
To revert from the digression, the first Ashrama of life namely, the periol of studentship was spent in the acquisition of knowledge, spiritual as well as of worldly things. This period generally terminated about the 20th year of the pupil's age and was termed Brahmacharya, the pupil observing absolute celibacy throughout.
The next Ashrama, termed Grihastha (house-holder's stage) commenced with the termination of the age of studentship and usually extended to a point of time when the marks of old age became clearly discernible. This was devoted to the world and to worldly things. Our student is now married and settled down in life. The wife is a desirable companion to the average householder from more than one point of view. The house-holder, therefore, does not observe celibacy, but marries a suitable spouse and thus shields himself from the seducements and temptations of the world. He now devotes his time to the acquisition of wealth which he enjoys in proper ways with his better half, performing all other duties pertaining to civic life as a member of society. As the first rush of excitement of married life subsides into the peaceful tranquillity of domesticity, the house-holder begins to train himself gradually for the next higher Ashrama, observing what are known as Pratimas, to develop the spirit of renunciation in his soul. I have no time to describe these Pratimas here, but they qualify a man for the Vânaprastha Ashrama, literally, forestlife, hence for a life of detachment or aloofness from the world. This is achieved when the tenth Pratimâ is reached. The student who had entered the married life as a house-holder and whom we found engaged in the discharge of his numerous duties as a father, a member of society, a patriot and the like, now feels a marked growing longing to escape from this seething whirl-pool of transmigration, and gradually withdraws himself from all kinds of undertakings and concerns in the world. The Vânaprastha period begins about the 50th year of life after suitable provision has been made for the family, and is spent in the training of the mind and body both to bear the severe strain of ascetcism in Sannyâsa,