________________
BRAHMESHANANDA: BHAKTI IN JAINISM
the objects of bhakti. These include such beings as the siddhas, the Tirthankaras, the ācāryas and the five adored ones. Bhakti, to them, consists in faith, service, worship and chanting of hymns, wherever applicable. The objects are the scriptures, temples, shrines, sacred trees, Nandiśvara, and so on. Finally, states like death in a state of samādhi yoga, character, peace and nirvāņa are also the objects of bhakti. To aspire for, pray for, and attempt to attain these states constitutes these types of bhakti.
Devotional Attitude
As already mentioned, there is very little scope for the loving worshipper-worshipped relationship, because here the object of devotion is a being free from all feelings of love and attachment. And yet, Jain devotees have been found to adopt the attitude of a servant or even that of a wife towards the arihanta for the sake of the practice of devotion. Hymns and poems of a few Jain sādhakas testify to this fact. The worship of the infant Jina (snatra-pūjā) is also done by devotees. The ultimate aim, however, is the absolute union with the Supreme Self-in other words, the realization of the eternally free and pure nature of one's own Atman.
Conclusion
A critical survey of Jainism reveals that, although there are a large number of devotional practices prevalent among the Jain devotees, bhakti has never been so developed as in the devotional schools of Hinduism by which it has been heavily influenced. Prema, or parabhakti, ecstatic love, is virtually absent in Jainism, which has as its ultimate aim the rising above all bonds of love to realize the pure nature of the soul.*
*
95
This article is reprinted here by the courtesy of the Editor PrabuddhaBharata, 1999, p. 469ff. We are very grateful to the Editor for allowing us to reprint this valuable article in the Journal.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
