Sumati Jnana

Author(s): Shivkant Dwivedi, Navneet Jain
Publisher: Shantisagar Chhani Granthamala

Page 36

Nudity of Jain Monks with water for toilet purposes. Nudity: the ideal state of living In Jain philosophy, the nudity of sages has been considered as the most ideal stage, because there is no other way to achieve Moksha with clothes or any other bearings. This is the climax of various stages through which a Shravak i. e. follower of religious path, passes through. A child takes birth in nude form and remains naked or half naked till attains teenage or adulthood. Neither the child nor any other person feels any smell of maladies, sexual thoughts at this stage. A child does not possess any kind of alien status i. e. Vikar parinati to any person. As the child grows to adulthood and starts bearing clothes and covering body parts, a sense of sexual thought itself develops in him. Jain monks are like a child, free from all kinds of maladies, passions and bias behaviour. They meet with all kinds of people but no one feels any sense of sexuality and vulgarity while sitting, interacting and learning with him. These monks abandon cloths and return to natural state and remain like a newly born baby. Nudity is the scientific way to conquer all kinds of maladies. The external behaviour and activities are the resultant of internal purity, thoughts and intention. While sitting with a naked or semi-naked common house holder one feels shame, shy and uncomfortable, but living with Jain monks for days together, no one feels like that. Murchha i. e. Infatuation Attachment to belongings or accumulation of things is the basic nature of a common human being. A Shravaka i. e. lay follower in the Jain order, who is a house holder too, follows five small vows i. e. Anuvrita. These are: 1. Non-violence 2. Truth 3. Non-stealing 4. Bad conduct and 5. Non-Possessiveness.
More detachment for belongings leads to more non-possessiveness character. Possessiveness not only means to have physical existence of something but also to have indulgence or attraction towards them, if things are beyond possession or reach. For example, somebody is not capable to purchase or have a house or jewellery but constantly thinks about their possessiveness, then it is a kind of attachment or infatuation or murchha. Even if a nude monk feels any kind of indulgence externally or internally, it is a kind of sin.
nal possessiveness is a serious king of thing and one has to be free from both i. e. external and internal. Jain monks continuously make efforts to eliminate internal possessions.
Mahatma Gandhi's following quotation regarding nudity is selfexplanatory and speaks about its high status and importance: "Nature has provided the most suitable cloth to man in the form of skin. To see ugliness in
nudity is our misconception or illusion. The best picture is visualized in nude from only.