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144: JAINS TODAY IN THE WORLD
3) The vow to promise to not commit purposeless sinful activities (anarthadanda-vrata).
The four disciplinary” vows (śikṣāvrata) are:
1) The vow to practice equanimity, to meditate and to devote particular time everyday to contemplation or meditation of the self for spiritual advancement.
2) The vow to fast on four days of the month, namely, the two eight and the two fourteen days of the month (posadhopavāsa-vrata); and to spend these days as a monk or a nun (posadhopavāsa-vrata).
3) The vow to limit everyday one's enjoyment of consumable and non-consumable things (upabhogaparibhoga-parimāņa-vrata);
4) The vow to take one's food only after feeding the ascetics or in their absence the pious householders that are in need (atithisaṁvibhāga-vrata).
In addition, the Jain laity may take the vow to let life go away by fasting (sallekhanā-vrata) if they fulfil conditions fixed by the tenets.
All these promises are solemnly taken in front of the statue of a Tīrthankara or of a spiritual master (Ācārya). Their aim is to help the adepts that are living in worldly affairs to not commit sins either by words, thoughts or actions that are causes to accumulation of “karma “ and to remain in the "samsāra ". Many Ācārya have given long enumerations of the failures to these vows.
By their discipline of living and their religious practices the Jain laity try like "yogī” and “tāntrika," to purify their body and consciousness and to cleanse their soul of “karma"!
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Fundamental virtues of the Jain laity
The Jain laypersons also have to practice, according to their obedience, various fundamental virtues (mūla-guna) to perfect their conduct.
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