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Jaina Acāra : Siddhānta aura Svarūpa
157 expelling foreign matter than going without food. Dr. Oswald says, "Fasting is the best method for inner cleanliness. Fasting for only three days in a year gives very much better results than hundreds of bottles of blood-purifying sour drugs."
New cells are constantly added to different limbs of the body. Physical labour consumes calories. In childhood cells multiply, but in advanced age there is little increase. In sickness also cells decrease. During the period of fasting unhealthy fat is eliminated giving rise to enthusiasm. While fasting, none should exert much. Any momentary disorder in the body should cause no concern.
Scientists say that the inner mechanism of the body is like pipes of rubber. Excess of food makes them expand as a result of which the circulation of blood is seriously disturbed. When one fasts, the pipes contract and revert to their original, natural state. With the purification of blood, one feels light in body and mind. But soon enough accumulated phlegm gets mixed with blood, causing unrest to the person. When it passes through urine, the normal state is restored. This is why the fasting person feels stronger in the last week of the month than in the first week. Penance requires strong will rather than the strong body, The Jaina view is that no desire should taint penances. The moment selfishness prevails, the very purpose of penance is defeated. The Gitā and the Buddha emphasize desirelessness, because a noble desire, the desire even for emancipation, is an obstruction to spiritual well-being.
There is no penance without the right knowledge and sense of discrimination. The first thing to comprehend is that the body is distinct from the soul. The identification of the two spells disaster. The aggregate of karma particles that remain attached to the soul are separated by means of penances. An ignorant aspirant may go on practising penances all his life but all this is futile, since thus binding karmas can never be dissociated from him. Thousands of aspirants in Lord Parsvanātha and Mahāvira's time practised penances foolishly and only emaciated their bodies. The Founders admonished them saying that they should try to exterminate their passions which are potent enemies. Bhadrabāhu says," Ignorant penances do not lead to emancipation. Penance is a means to salvation, but in case the end eludes, there is everything wrong with the means. One may thus achieve heavenly splendour, but the Karmic flow remains unstopped. Even if some great thing is secured sometime, it is bound to be misused and karma will continue to have its constrictive effect.
Penances may be either external or internal. The external ones are visible to others, but not the inner ones. They should inter-penetrate, because one shorn of the other is impracticable. The aim of both is one and the same. Why did the Founders practise extemal penances? It is because they effect Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
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