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The Path of Arhat : A Religious Democracy
influenced by good and beneficial 'Nimittas'. Thus we should prefer the 'Nimittas' which permanently remind us of the divine power of our spirit, which fill our daily life routine with the idea of total liberation and which make us repentant of all our moral lapses. It follows that we should avoid those ‘Nimittas' which become responsible for contrary effect. This process obviously requires a lively awareness from moment to moment. Any lapse in such an awareness is known in Jaina technicality as 'Pramāda', the literary meaning of which is negligence. Bhāvanā or Anuprekşā ( Reflection )
To achieve this end the seers have prescribed some formula, the most important of which is the prescription of constantly keeping in view twelve Bhavanas as under:
(1) Anitya Bhavanā - 'Bhavanā means 'conception', *Aditya' means transitory'. All material things of the universe are transitory in nature. It is an ever changing world. Nothing is still and permanent here. What gives us pain is not the changing modes but our insistence to see that the things of our liking remain permanent. Unthinking man never reconciles himself to the fact of change and this is the root of human misery because no one who belongs to this universe, and is a part of it, can free himself from the laws by which the universe is governed. It is really tragic to stay behind. We experience every moment that all objects of pleasure, wealth, the power and everything around us undergoes changes. The moment we are born, we begin to die. Change is the rule. The only exception is our spirit (Cetana ). But we tend to forget the spirit which is permanent and cling to the thing which is transitory, and if in the process we become unhappy we blame others. Obviously the pangs of our pain would be greatly relieved if we constantly remember, that change is the rule and clinging to changing modes is pure ignorance.
(2) Asaruņa Bhavana — 'Sarana' means refuse. Asarana means want of refuse or helplessness. It should be constantly
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