Portrait of Jain Religion

Author(s): Narendra Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

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perfection, having attained KEVAL GYAN (omniscient knowledge). The soul becomes ARHAT TIRTHANKAR while still being in a human form. Tirthankar is venerated by the people for his supreme achievement and He begins to preach to them the path for seeking true perception (SAMYAK DARSANA), true knowledge (SAMYAK GYAN), and true conduct (SAMYAK CHARITRA). Tirthankar becomes a ROLE MODEL to follow and emulate;
(2) AYOGA KEVALI
This is the ultimate and highest stage with the soul achieves Moksha and becomes SIDDHA i.e., totally perfected and liberated eternal being beyond pleasure and pain, birth and death. The yoga of mind, speech and body disappears and the soul becomes Ayoga kevali with total bliss
PATH FOR LAY PERSONS
Jain religion prescribes a much less rigorous religious dispensation for lay persons (householders) than for the monks and nuns. Within a family or a society, a person has multifarious duties to perform and responsibilities to discharge. The main emphasis, therefore, is on adherence to the Jain ethical way of life emanating from the fundamental Jain principles of non-violence, self-restraint and equanimity in the face of differing viewpoints. This is a starting point undertaken voluntarily imbued with both reason and faith in the journey towards spiritual awakening, and there have been instances where lay persons have persisted on getting on to more and more advanced levels of Jain spiritual path and eventually renounced the worldly environment to become monks
or nuns.
The vows prescribed for lay persons, called in religious terminology as shravaks and shravikas, are minor and limited and are basically introductory, voluntarily assumed and motivational. Anuvrat in its five dimensions is a milder version of the Mahavrat meant for the monks and nuns. The five vows
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A Portrait of Jain Religion