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PART IV
COSMIC AND PURIFICATORY RITE
From early on in this study we have been put directly in touch with the way of worship proper to the Jaina dharma through the Namaskāra-mantral and the Caturvimśatistava. This worship in its very essence is centred upon the purification of the atman and the separation of the same from karmic matter. It takes its inspiration from the examples of the parameşthins, both past and present, and from the dharma that they taught and teach to all living beings. The Digambara and Mūrtipūjaka śrāvakas and śrāvikās perform both forms of worship: dravya, the external form, by participation in the pājā, and bhāva, internal worship. All adherents of the reformed sampradayas, on the other hand, perform only the latter form of worship, the internal, that is the avaśyaka-vidhi, the rite of duties.2 The sădhvis are required to perform this rite twice a day.
After a brief look at the history of the dharma, a study of the successive stages leading to nirvāna and a description of the way of life of the sādhvis and áryikās, we can now more easily approach this rite. We are already familiar with the doctrinal bases of thé avaśyakas and the central place that from time immemorial the said āvaśyakas occupy in the life of the ascetics, both as rites and, in the case of certain ones of them, as expiations. In spite of a few inevitable
1 At the beginning of the 1st ávaśyaka it is termed pañcanamaskāramangala-sūtra (AvaS 1); for the sake of simplification we are calling it, in this Part which deals with the avasyakas, the Namaskāra-sutra.
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2 The śrävakas and śrāvikās of all sam āyas follow on the whole the same rite as the munis and sadhvis. The chief differences are as follows: they take the vow of sämāyika for a limited period; on each occasion in the sutras that mention is made of the mahavratas, they must substitute for that term the word aņuvratas, liule vows; furthermore, they do not recite the śramana-sútras which are reserved for the ascetics.
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