Book Title: Universal Values of Prakrit Texts
Author(s): Prem Suman Jain
Publisher: Bahubali Prakrit Vidyapeeth and Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan

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Page 189
________________ As Padmanabha Jaini points out: 'Jaina teachers have drawn a distinction between injurious activities which are totally forbidden and those which may be tolerated within strict guidelines. The first of these categories is designated as samkalpaja -himsa, and includes all deeds involving intentional, premeditated violence .Such deeds are contrasted with those of the arambhaja-himsa variety, which either occur accidentally or may result from the performance of an 'acceptable occupation'. Again Somadava makes a distinction in his Upasaka dhyana between laukika (worldly) and parlaukika (other worldly) dharma. These are two kinds of dharma available to the householders. The second example is provided by Bhandrankar Vijay (1903-1980), characterized by John Cort (1995:601) as 'one of the most highly revered of all Svetambara Murtipujaka monks of this century (i.e. the 20th). This is taken from passages in his writings in which he 'responds to the questions of an imaginary interlocutor concerning the suitability of worshiping images of Jinas with physical offerings' (Cort 1995:601). The potential problems, of course, is that 'worship involving physical objects also involves an element of harm (himsa)to living beings, and therefore runs counter to the central Jain ethical principle of non-harm(ahimsa) to all living beings' (Cort 1995:601). The monk says: 'Devotion of God [by which he means the Jinas or Tirthankars] destroys both separation from oneself and contact with harmful karama....'(Cort 1995:602). The question is then asked: 'If a householder performs only spiritual(bhava)worship[i.e. inner worship or contemplation], and not physical (dravya) worship, then will it work or not?' (Inner worship is the only kind of worship the monks and nuns are permitted-physical worship being inherently too violent.)The monk replies that inner worship will not work because a householder's mind requires the stability of an external support. He goes on to say: 'Not only that, all his Jain Education International 147 For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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