Jain Spirit 2002 03 No 10

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 21

FEATURES
CARVE YOUR OWN DESTINY
Mark Tully probes Professor Padmanabh Jaini on the role of gurus and Gods in human salvation
OU TALKED ABOUT HOLY MEN AS BEING EXEMPLARS AND teachers. But is there also an emotional content in their appeal to the people? Do people love them in the sense they almost want to follow them because they have such a deep emotional commitment to them?
Yea
If you are asking about the emotional connection between a teacher and a Jain layperson comparable to that of a guru and a devotee elsewhere in India, I would have to say that this aspect is conspicuously absent in Jainism. This is a religion which essentially asks you to realise your own nature by yourself. The Jain ascetics are instruments to awaken others but beyond that there is no emotional sustenance, sometimes called grace (prasada) by other Indians, which they can dispense freely to others.
Do you feel there is a danger in that sort of relationship? Enormous numbers of people felt emotionally committed to Mahatma Gandhi. As you rightly say, in Hinduism people are tremendously committed to their gurus. Do you think that there is danger in it? Does Jainism teach you that?
Well, the Jains see danger in any form of attachment. The Jain teachers never tire of telling their audience that knowledge can be imparted to anyone, but conduct cannot be given, it must rise within one's self. What you say about Gandhiji is quite true but I doubt if he ever claimed the status of a spiritual guru.
"Jain ascetics are
instruments to awaken
others."
There is also an element of inspiration, which is not the same as an example. It is something much more, an emotional inspiration?
That indeed is there. I have known Jain monks and nuns who do inspire in their disciples tremendous adoration and devotion. This does occasionally develop into a kind of emotional attachment
20 Jain Spirit March May 2002
directed to that individual rather than to the congregation of mendicants. The scriptures openly warn against such emotional bonds, pointing to the example of Indrabhuti Gautama, the chief mendicant disciple of Mahavir, whose attachment to his master was a major hindrance to his own salvation. The Jain gurus are to be revered and supported, and lastly to be listened to. Indeed a Jain word for a layman is shravaka, one who listens. I would therefore say that in Jainism there is a lack of that kind of emotional bond which is carefully forged and admired among theistic religions. This may be the consequence of not believing in a Personal God as your Saviour.
در
Previously we were talking about prayer. There is no God for you to pray to, yet prayer is such an essential part of most religions. How do you cope with this problem?
The word prayer does not describe correctly what the Jains actually do when they "pray". The Jain word is stava or stotra, which means praise or adoration of the Jina for his infinite knowledge, bliss and purity-qualities which a Jain aspires to attain. The Jina is not a God but a supreme Teacher. A layperson entering a Jain temple is therefore asked to set aside all desires for worldly objects, for the Jinas are past granting any wishes. They are exemplars and a Jain is aspiring to follow their path of salvation to become a Jina himself. An ancient Jain "prayer" illustrates well what a Jain may legitimately seek from the Jina:
dukkhakkhao kammakkhao, samahi-maranam ca bohilabho ca
mama hou jagada-bandhava, jinavara tava carana-saranena