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AN INTERPRETATION OF JAIN ETHICS According to the Digambars, all the nine causes of Punya, the Nava-Panya-krama, refer to the worship of the Sadhu only. When the ascetic is seen approaching, he should first be welcomed and invited to enter the house, and then offered an elevated seat. The third action is to wash his feet, the fourth to worship him by flowers, light, incense, etc., the fifth, to bow down before him, the sixth, seventh, and eighth to think with reverence, speak respectfully and observe rospectful manners, and the ninth to offer him pure food. Also the giving of food, medicine, expedients of studying religion, and protection to worthy lay men and laywomen, and to people in need of mercy, are counted as actions causing Punya.
2. Samvara. Samvara, or the act of preventing fresh Karma from streaming into the soul, can be accomplished by various ways of ethical conduct, which, in Jain Tradition, are arranged in a system of six classes. All of them are permeated by two commanding principles, viz., Non-injury and Self-control.
In Jain Ethics, the principle of Non-injury has been developed to an incomparable height. The Jain Dogma teaches that the Universe is filled with souls in variovs stages of development, or better, degrees of infection through Karma, from irrational Nigodas up to omniscient Siddhas, who, free from the dirt of Karma, live, bodiless, at the top of the Universe, far away from all worldly concerns. Between these two extreines, there are those numberless classes of creatures : beings with one serise, and without the gift of spontaneous locomotion, which comprise the earth bodies, such as earth, stone, metals and all kinds of minerals in their natural state ; then water bodies such as water, ice, mist ; fire bodies such as flames, sparks; wind bodies such as air, storm, etc.; and plant bodies, such as leaves, stems, flowers, roots, seeds, etc. Then, there are the beings with two, three, four and five senses, comprising the whole animal kingdom, the classes of gods, the inhabitants of the hells, and men.
In all these various beings, thore is one and the same kind of imniortal soul, gifted with the Four Great Qualities, and able Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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