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RELIGION & CULTURE OF THE JAINS
Worship, in Jainism, is the expression of sincere devotion (bhakti) of the aspirant for the spiritual values he esteems most, hence for the personage or the soul who has fully realised, attained and manifested those values, properties, attributes and qualities. This devotion or bhakti, as understood in Jainism, is nothing but a genuine, selfless, superb and transcendenta! attachment (praśasta-rāga), liking and love for, and praise, admiration, veneration and adoration of the ideal One (or Ones), for the ideals he represents. The purpose is to get inspiration and guidance from the example of the worshipful, to get oneself purified mentally and spiritually by reciting and adoring the glorious attainments of the most glorious, and to long and will to achieve himself that ideal state one day. This in an unfailing and unflinching devotion to the divinity manifest in the Ideal One. Even his person, corporeal body, and life-story are of secondary importance, which serve only as a background for the achievements 'he' is adored for. No doubt, they also help to visualise the personality of the Great One, to visualise the spiritual struggle he fought, and are the embodiment of the ideal and the example, and, therefore, worthy of adoration. Even the images of the worshipful, made in stone, metal, or some other material, are adorable, not because they are the deity themselves, but because they are handy representations of the deity and are so made as to reflect in their facial expression, pose and posture the passionless serene contemplation, self-absorption and complete bodily abandonment of the adorable one. In fact, a Jaina does not worship the image, but performs worship of the chosen deity before the image which represents that deity. The Jainas do not call these inanimate representations of the deity idols, but images or icons. They are, therefore, not idol-worshippers, but profess to be idealworshippers.
