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Celebrating Jain Society of Houston Pratishtha Mahotsav 1995
everywhere in the entire universe and this knowledge extends to all the past and all the future. This person with the complete knowledge - kevalgnan - then tells us how the whole system functions and what we can do to achieve true happiness. Occasionally a kevalgnani, because of specific karmas he has committed in the past, sets up an organization that passes on the teachings of this karma system to future generations. He or she is called a Tirthankar. Eventually, the religious organization dissipates and another Tirthankar comes along and starts the whole thing over again.
ARHUM This mantra is pregnant with the vowels and consonants used in Sanskrit alphabets. The first vowel in Sanskrit alphabet is 'a' and the last consonant is 'h'.
In this mantra all the sounds of vowels and consonants are mystically present. So meditating on Arhum one meditates on all the vowels and consonants. That is the importance of this mantra.
The last Tirthankar was Lord Mahavir. A Tirthankar is also called an Arihant - killer of enemies - or a Jina, meaning a victor. The followers of a Jina are called Jains and the religion they follow is called Jainism. The enemies that the Jinas have conquered are likes, dislikes, anger, conceit, deceit, and greed. They discovered through their complete knowledge that actions you engage in determine what kinds of karmas you get. But what determines how much karma you get and how strongly they bind to your is determined by how intensely you felt the feelings and emotions while you were committing those karmas. Further, the Jinas have told us that self-denial gets rid of karmas. The Jain culture is full of glorious tales of how their heros fasted for months. The Jain monks live an exceedingly austere life and are revered by Jain faithful for the many sacrifices they make.
AUM HRIM ARHUM
It is an ancient miraculous supreme mantra among all the mystical seed mantras. Even the Kundalini (hidden serpent-like dormant energy) can
be raised by meditating on this mantra. Ultimately, with the help of this mantra, its vibrations and its experiences, one can liberate oneself from the cycle of birth and death.
In the Jain school of thought, your salvation is up to you. The way to salvation is through proper knowledge and proper actions. Proper knowledge is defined as the knowledge of a person with proper attitude. So in the Jain philosophy, truth is truth only at level of an individual and therefore it can not be given in a single holy book. You have to gain it through your actions to burn up your knowledge obscuring karmas. The Jain philosophy is always at the level of the individual. Jainism further holds that it is possible to have contradictory aspects to the same reality. We can disagree and still both of us can be right. Truth is not absolute.
SWASTIKA Swastika is considered to be an auspicious and a good luck symbol for Jains as well as Hindus and Buddhists. It is a tradition to design the swas
tika at the beginning of many religious and social ceremonies. It is a symbol of prosperity and good fortune. To the Jains the four arms of the swastika represents the four possible places of rebirth — heaven, human, animal and hell. Many use the swastika to mark the thresholds, doors and for opening of the account books on the New Year's day.
To be a Jain, is aspire to rise above all your loves and hates, burn up all the karmas by intense self denial like the Jinas did and to become a Jina yourself.
That is what Jainism is.
"Love all, Serve all"
(Satya Sai Baba)
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