Practical Path

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown

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THE PRACTICAL PATH.
in the observance of the above rules of conduct and pratimas he is qualified to become a muni. The admission into the order of monks is accompanied by the impressive ceremony of kesha-lochano, which means the pulling out of hair. Perhaps this was intended as a test of the true spirit of vairâgya, since the intensity of the feeling of disgust with a purely animal existence and the proper observance of the rules of conduct enjoined on a layman suffice, by themselves, to bring into , manifestation, to a fairly appreciable extent, certain of the natural qualities of the soul which enable it to endure pain with a cheerful heart. The intoxicating rhythm of true joy, which is partially felt by a perfect house-holder, is one of such qualities, and suffices to make one immune to almost all kinds of bodily pain.
The kesha-lochana over, the house-holder becomes a wanderer, possessing nothing, and dependent for his very subsistence on the charity of others. He may possess nothing of value-neither clothes, nor metal, nor anything else. His conduct must be characterised by the highest degree of self-control, and he should perfect himself in righteousness, mercy, equanimity, renunciation, and all other auspicious qualities of a like nature. His object being the attainment of absolute freedom from the trammels of samsara, he neither pays any attention to the taunts or jibes of men, nor to the objects of senses, nor even to the embellishment of his own person. He aims at the perfection of the holiest form of dhyâna, the immediate cause of emancipation, and leaves all other things, such as the embellishment of his physical
prison' and the like, to those who have no desire, or