________________
164
Jaina Acara: Siddhanta aura Svarupa
(2) Iksurasa, i.e. jaggery, sugar etc.
(3) Phalarasa, i.e. the juice of mangoes, grapes etc. (4) Dhanyarasa, i.e. oil and the like.
Mularadhana says that delicious food and all other which might be attractive otherwise should be avoided. The monk who has accepted this vow must have no desire for delectable victuals.
Monks and nuns must always take a balanced diet. By repeatedly taking rough food, the body reacts demanding juicy diet. Rough and mean food causes perspiration which obstructs spiritual endeavours. In cononical literature there are references to monks who suffered from some diseases because of their consuming rough food for a long period. As a lamp cannot burn without its wick being wetted in oil, so monks also need nutritious diet for the proper upkeep of the body. As such they may have a healthy change in their diet now and then, but only as much as should help the body for spiritual advancement.
Bhagavati has clearly stated that a monk should accept the right food straight as a snake enters its burrow. There is no harm in taking sweets on some days. The harm lies in tasting and relishing them, since it binds the soul fast. A monk can attain even salvation but only when he does not know the taste of what he eats. Those who are covetous transgress the prescribed limit and ruin their lives. What makes the mind fickle should be tabooed. What excites the brain to violence, gross or subtle, must scrupulously be avoided.
Dasavaikalika says, Decoration, association with women and delectable food are like poison that kills the desire of salvation as quickly as poison proves fatal to the body." Aupapātikasutra has given its kinds as follows:
11
(1) Niryukti-It is total renuciation of perversion.
(2) Pranitarasa-It is to renounce the food from which ghee trickles.
(3) Acamla-To eat some one kind of grain with water.
(4) Ayamasikya-It is to take water gushing forth from the wash of some grain.
(5)
Arasa-It is to eat parched grain, pod-vegetable containing big peas within and the like.
(6) Virasa-It is to consume tasteless food, but tastefully. (7) Antya-It is to eat the remnants of worthless food.
(8) Prantya-It is to chew left-off food.
(9) Rooksa-It is to consume rough food.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org