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Essence of Jainism To attain liberation, it is necessary to have the following three qualities known as three Jewels (Ratna-traya) :
1. Spiritual inclination or faith in self-evident spiritual truths, viz. I (soul) exist, I am afflicted with miseries, there are causes of miseries, I can totally exterminate these causes, and as a result I can free myself absolutely from all miseries. This is called samyag-darshana.
2. Spiritually wholesome knowledge (sanyag-inana): All knowledge that is associated with and directed by spiritual inclination or faith is spiritually wholesome knowledge.
3. Spiritually wholesome conduct (samyak-charitra): The conduct that inspired by the spiritually wholesome knowledge is necessarily spiritually wholesome conduct. The three combined are the means of liberation.
JAIN PRACTICES For spiritual evolution Jain aspirants are required to observe five vows of non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy and non-possession. Observance of these vratas by monks and nuns is done rigorously and perfectly, and hence their vows are called mahavrata. On the other hand, observance by householders being partial, their vows are called anuvrata. In addition to these five anuvratas, householders practise seven supporting vows. The five prime vows are :
(1) Abstinence from injury to life (pranati-pataviramana) :
This is the fundamental vow from which all other vows stem. Ascetics abstain from all killing, while householders from intentional killing. For food, the destruction of the higher forms of life from two-sensed beings upward is strictly forbidden to
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