Jain Spirit 2002 10 No 12

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

Page 58

PHILOSOPHY
Indulgence Is Violence
more senses must not be wilfully violated even by a without the former. This demonstrates the unique Jain belief layperson because their organisms (muscle, blood, bones, that the sex instinct (maithuna-samjna) is inseparable from etc.) are similar to that of human beings. Thus all forms of the craving for food and cannot be overcome without animal flesh, including foul and fish, are totally unacceptable controlling the desire for the latter. for a pious Jain who must depend on a vegetarian diet, with
Fasting for a day only is considered a child's play among only dairy products as an exception to the rule (since it is the Jain laity. A great many Jain laypeople, especially believed that removal of milk does not hurt the animal). The women during the sacred week called the paryusana-parva list of prohibited food (abhaksya) extends even to certain in the rainy season (caturmasa) undertake longer periods of fruits and vegetables, especially the five kinds of figs fastings for three to eight days. The formal conclusion of a (udumbara), fruits with many seeds (bahubija) and a variety fast is called parana and takes place long after sunrise, with of plants called anantakayas, which are thought to be a sip of boiled water, usually after an offering of food is made inhabited not by individual souls but by an infinite number of to a Jain monk or nun visiting the household for collecting living organisms. These anantakayas include as many as alms. The paranas, especially after longer periods of fasting, thirty-two varieties of food like turmeric, ginger, garlic, are occasions for joyous celebrations by the relatives and bamboo, radishes, beetroots and carrots. The Jains extend friends of the person who has completed the vow faultlessly their scruples against destroying ekendrivas in unstrained and cheerfully. Along with the fellow members of the water (agalita-jala) and a mendicant may drink only boiled community they gather to feed such a person with spoonfuls water which has been rendered free of all forms of subtle life. of boiled water or fruit juice. In the majority of cases these
Further restrictions apply to the time when permitted fasts are undertaken by women, often newly wedded brides food may be consumed. Advanced laypeople as well as taking the lead and proving their zeal to their new relatives. mendicants as a rule observe the vow of not partaking of any The participating community shows in this manner its delight food or water after sunset (ratri-bhojana-tyaga-vrata) and in the spiritual progress made by one of its own and also the Digambara mendicants are restricted to a single meal earns merit by the act of giving food to so worthy a person. (including water) a day. On certain holy days, such as the eighth and the fifteenth of each lunar month, many "This desire for food Professor Padmanabh Jaini is a prolific laypeople undertake fasts called
writer and scholar on Jainism, based in anasana 'not eating' or upavasa. At
San Francisco, California. The above least once a year all Jains observe a
article was extracted from Collected communal fast and dedicate that day for
Papers on Jaina Studies', by begging forgiveness (ksampana) of all
Pradmanabh S. Jaini, Motilal begins, including those ekendriyas
Barnasidass Publishers, 2000, whose lives they destroyed in the act of
www.mlbd.com eating. As for mendicants, who must constantly engage in austerities, the Jain texts prescribe a
Advertisement variety of tapas: giving up stimulating dishes (rasaparityaga), reducing the diet to a few morsels (avamau
www.jainsamaj.org daraya) and fasting for an entire day (anasana). Jain fasts,
A concise website which combines the Jain religion, Jain Society and
philosophy of Ahimsa. The site contains a range of modules that are whether practised by mendicants or laypeople, must be
easy to follow, offering Jains across the world an opportunity to distinguished from the fasts kept by the followers of Judaism, increase their knowledge on Samaj, and provides succinct information Christianity and Islam. Fasting in these communities is, for for the benefit of new Jains. The site contains a comprehensive list of
Temples across the world, profiles on the Saints from all sects, a the most part, restricted to daytime only; often food is freely
Matrimonial area provided by the Ahimsa foundation and profiles of consumed after sunset. Even the followers of various Jain celebrities. There is also a Jain Members Directory, a photo Brahmanical religious sects allow eating fruits or some form gallery, E-shop, and E-greetings, a list of Vegetarian Restaurants and of uncooked food - preferably at night - on their fasting
a useful page on Jain institutions.
You will find a fun module days. The Jain fast lasts from sunrise to sunrise and is total;
dedicated to Children, to which only boiled water in limited quantities may be consumed and
children are encouraged to add that too only during daytime. An extraordinary feature of the
their suggestions! And for those
that need up-to-date and further Jain fast - not much discussed in the books but tacitly
information on Jain Samaj there is observed - is that all sexual contact between couples is
a FAQ section, Discussion forum forbidden for the duration of the fast, even if only the wife or
and monthly News Bulletin
"Ahimsa Times', which is circulated the husband has refrained from food. Although the vow of
to thousands of Jains around the celibacy (brahma-carya) does not demand the vow for
world. fasting, the Jains seem to perceive the latter incomplete
sets up competition between one living thing and another.”
56 Jain Spirit . September - November 2002 Education international 2010_03