________________
Vol. XXXVI
JAIN JOURNAL
No. 4 April
Jain Education International
TAPAS IN JAINISM
SWAMI BRAHMESHANANDA
On the last Akshaya Tritiya, a day auspicious to the Hindus as well as to the Jains, I happened to be at Limbdi, a small town in Gujarat, where there is a large community of Jains. I was asked to attend the 'fast breaking ceremony of the year-long-fast' of one of the relatives of a Jain devotee of the local Ramakrishna Ashrama. The person concerned was a young lady, about 25, who had undertaken varshitapa, which involves fasting on alternate days and on intervening auspicious days for one year starting from and ending on Akshaya Tritiya. The occasion of the successful completion of the penance was being celebrated with great joy and festivity. The lady was attired in her best dresses and was decked from head to foot with gold ornaments. As a mark of recognition and appreciation, every visitor offered a spoonful of sugarcane juice in a small cup for her to drink. Even this kind of participation is considered highly meritorious. Embroidered pictures depicting this scene can often be seen in Jain temples.
2002
Although all the major religions of the world lay stress on austerity (tapas) as a means of emancipation, the above description shows what high honour is given in Jainism to a person undertaking tapas. As a matter of fact, so great a stress is laid on tapas in Jainism that it is included as the fourth essential means of salvation along with the triratna of Jainism, viz., right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct. According to Jain philosophy, the individual soul is inherently pure, conscious, blissful, omniscient, and omnipotent, but owing to past karmas its inherent perfection is concealed. The task before the aspirant is to prevent the accumulation of new karmas (samvara) and to remove the already accumulated ones (nirjara). To the extent the karmic covering is made thinner, the light of the soul shines forth.
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
