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Celebrating Jain Society of Houston Pratishtha Mahotsav 1995
WHAT JAINISM MEANS TO ME By Anjly Shah (1st place Essay Under-12 Yrs.)
To me, the first step to the religion as a Jain is to become a better human, to be noble, and also to be polite, and to keep in mind the five main principles. In a true sense the religion should be conducted by mind (mana), word (vachan), and physical (kaya) acts. We should have a friendly attitude toward every creature great and small. On account of this attitude, our behavior and conduct will be non-violent and also full of love. Kindness is the basis for dharma. Pride is the root of all sins. Pride and attachment are the two chief minister of moha (desire) or greed. Where there is pride there is destruction and ruins. Bahubali preformed a sever penance, yet in his own mind there was still pride. Hence he could not obtain omniscience or perfect knowledge. His sisters Brahmi and Sundari gave him an advice to make him realize about his pride.
Jainism is not only a way of life, but a way of living. To practice the religion means conducting elaborate ways of worshipping, such as poojas. To me this is not the real part of Jainism. The word Jain is derived from sanskrit word "Jin" which means a victor. The person who conquered his passions such as the anger, pride, intrigue, and greed. It is that we have to bring the religion into our everyday life by also practicing the five main principles of jainism, like non-violence, truth, non-stealing. celibacy, and non- possession. Just because we are born in a Jain family does not mean we are true Jains. If we don't follow the principles of the religion, we are not considered to be loyal Jains. As Jains, I believe that we are expected to study these basic concepts and understand the basic concepts of our souls, matter and other entities of the universe. The Jain religion teaches us all life is sacred through the priniciple of non-violence - every living thing has its own unique place. Non-violence is the foundation of the outlook on life. Violence also is defined as obstruction of the life process of our self and also others. The higher the life form, the higher or the great the violence involved. We also have to remember that we should not commit any violence physically, mentally or verbally. Truth and honesty are also important virtues. We should always speak the truth and take only our fair share and not indulge in any kind of unfair of illegal business. By practicing vows of truth and nonstealing, we will earn the trust of our fellow men. These vows promote good neighborliness and enables us to become a Jain in the true sense of that word. All men and women get acquisitions of all kinds of material things. However, it is a common experience that occurs and causes unhappiness in to our lives. We can as Jains, and should practice celibacy. The Jain monks practice celibacy, total celibacy while householder abstain from pre-marital and extra-marital lives, and observe practical celibacy. Thus, minimizing our needs and also the gradual elimination of desires are important goals of life.
In the same manner attachment prevented omniscience knowledge to Gautam Swami. He did not have pride, but he did have a great attachment to Mahavir Bhagavan, when he attained self realization then he conquered keval jhan or what is known as perfect knowledge.
In the theory of karma, according to our Jainism the soul gets involved in karma and falls into the cycle of birth and death. In the theory of karma our sins will fallow us into our next life until we reach kevalgnan. Good deeds and feelings bring good karma while feeling of violence, anger and greed lead to the bad karma. The kind or quality of karma are determined by the combined activity of body speech and mind. According to Jainism God does not help us, but we can help our selves. By keeping good attitude toward life and by having pure thoughts and feelings, even when things go against our our will, we can lessen the impact of karma.
In modern time, we are altering our ethnical values. Man's greatness is measured by his/her wealth and worldly possession, but not by their humanity and nobility as Jains. Most of the time men and women are doing rituals and other activities to show off and impress others that they are religious
The true happiness of life depends on right knowledge, right vision and also the right conduct. If we put these three things into practical life, also not criticizing others, and understanding things from different view points, there will be less bad feelings towards each other. Thus, that is what jainism means to me. We can also live peacefully and friendly in the jain religion. It is said that if wealth is lost, nothing is lost: if health is lost something is lost, but if character is lost everything is lost.
"Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the high cost of hatred, and the waste of energy
(Dr. S. K. Bose)
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