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RELIGION & CULTURE OF THE JAINS
Lay Seekers Thus, in order that people may pursue those mundane activities lawfully, without hurting others physically or mentally, become good citizens and ideal members of society, live a life of piety and charity, and get apprenticeship training for a career of spiritual development, with liberation from samsāra (the round of births and deaths) as the ultimate goal, a graded course of conduct and behaviour has been prescribed. These lay aspirants are called śrāvakas (women, śrāvikās), because their religion primarily consists in listening to the beneficial advice incorporated in the scriptures, or preached by the gurus, as and when they (the laity) can spare time for it, and in trying to act up to that advice as best as they can, that is, as much as their inclination and circumstances permit. Ordinarily, a person born of Jaina parents or in a Jaina family, passes by the name Jaina, by virtue of the accident of birth He or she habitually and customarily follows the practice prevailing in the family, such as, adoration of the Jina, usually by going to the temple, obeisance to the gurus (male and female Jaina asceties), veneration of the scriptures, abstinence from eating meat, drinking spirituous liquors and taking food after sunset, drinking filtered water, and so on. He may be doing these things generally, without giving a thought as to why he is doing so. If, however, after acquiring a preliminary knowledge of the fundamentals of the religion, one is convinced of their truth and efficacy, he is a Jaina by conviction, be he the one originally by birth or by adoption.
In fact, a person does not become a true Jaina unless and until he acquires the requisite minimum comprehension of the essential nature of soul and non-soul together with their mutual relationships, and develops a firm faith, based on his own transcendental experience of the reality, which equips him with
