________________
control. Also the disciple does not feel any pain as a part of these practices. If at all he gets pleasure and satisfaction from these efforts, just like a mountaineer gets satisfaction from the hard labour and difficulties he encounters while conquering a peak.
Heat Effulgence: Jain discipline prescribes heat effulgence, a rite of exposure to the Sun and Sun-gazing. During the time of Mahavira scores of monks used to perform the penance by facing the Sun on the sun-baked ground and the cold nights with naked body seated in a single posture. They sought out the coldest locations in the winter months and the most sweltering environments in the summer, always naked, to train their bodies for the hardship of the journey towards awakening. They sat in the rays of the Sun continuously. They did not eat anything for days or whatever meagre meals they took were supplemented by the rays of the Sun, which they absorbed. The monks responded to the intense heat exposure using a meditative attentiveness characterized by a dynamic balance between alertness and relaxation, which promotes insight and adaptive coping.
Jainism prescribe three kinds of heat effulgence - ordinary, medium and best. In the first step the heat of the Sun is absorbed on back by lying down by facing the Sun on sun-baked ground and in the night with naked body seated in hero posture. As a further step, heat is absorbed by facing the Sun in a squatting position where a person rests his body on the feet, without touching the ground with buttocks. In the final stage in standing posture either on two feet or one foot with hands stretched right up and taking deep breathing. At first, the heat is soothing and as the body
87
