________________
THE JAINA GAZETTE
WHOLE
VOL. XXV ]
MADRAS:
MADR48: Ś WHOLE No. 12. s DECEMBER, 1929.
No. 294. The Daily Life of Jaina Saints.*
THE Daily Life of the saint is characterised by extreme
1 simplicity. He rises early in the morning and engages himself in the performance of the samayika. This takes him something like two hours and a half to perform, after which he sits down for the scadhyaya (reading) of the Scripture of Truth. He rises from this about 9 o'clock, and then proceeds to attend to the calls of nature. At about the breakfast time (about ten o'clock) he reaches the quarters of the pious householders, except when he be fasting, in which case he does not stir out from his place. The food taken, he returns straight to his place and sits down to the midday samayika, spending, if possible, six gharis (=144 minutes) thereon, but in any case not less than a third of that period. The afternoon is spent in the performance of the six essentials of the saintly life, obeisance, adoration, penance, samayika, and the like. If there be any people present who desire to hear the dharmic (religious) discourse, he propounds the truth to them, otherwise he utilises the remaining time for study (svadhyaya) of the Scriptural Text, or in maintaining samuta (equanimous feeling). In the evening the samayika is again performed about the time of the sunset, and the duration is the same as before, namely two gharis for the least meritorious,
Republished with permission from "Sannyasa Dharma" by C. R. Jain, Vidy Varidbi, Bar-at-Law.
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
