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STAGES OF SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT
187 So this word vrata in its technical meaning here implies all these ideas, namely :
1. There is the actual selection of the conduct, 2. There is the exercise of the judging faculty in distinguish
ing right from bad courses. 3. There is the effort of will [vīrya), or in psychological
language there is conation.
There is no such thing as taking a vrata and not carrying it out. It is a very strict matter, requiring the exercise of much care in the undertaking to do.
This idea of the vrata as above described is peculiarly Jaina; there is no promising on oath to a superior deity or person; it is not a command or a decree issued by a deity to his subjects or creatures. The breaking of the vows means degradation; in the Jaina philosophy, if a person breaks his vows he is degraded, that is all; he is not damned for ever. But the Vedic idea of a vrata is very different. Three Divisions of 12 Vows
The 12 vratas which a lay person (not monk) can take may be divided into three classes :
1. The first five are called lesser vratas (asuvratas), which
means lesser as compared with the vratas of the monk. 2. The next three vratas are called guņa vratas. Guņa literally
means virtues, but here it means that they give a kind of nourishment to the first five; they support and are helpful
to the first five. 3. The last four are called sikṣā vratas, literally disciplinary.
They are such that when you are practising them you are making a preparation for the monk life.
FIRST VOWS (Sthūla-Prāṇātipāta-Viramaņa-Vrata) First vrata is called in Sanskrit sthūla-prāņātipāta-viramaņa vrata. Sthūla means rough or gross as distinguished from strict
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