Vardhaman Book on Jainism

Author(s): Jayshree Menon
Publisher: Bennete Coleman & Co Ltd

Page 41

"But don't you ever crave to eat or possess something special? Is it not difficult going out on the streets to beg?" I asked a group of sadhvis dressed in spotless white.
My answer was that winsome bemused smile and a simple "No!" uttered from behind a handkerchief held in front of the mouth in order to minimise the harm the uttering of the word would have on the bacteria floating in the air. I might have been asking the questions, but the truth was that I was also doing all the soul searching. For in this little desert town on the edge of nowhere, I had stumbled upon a quiet little oasis of spiritual tranquility, peopled with amazing Jain sadhvis who seemed content in their detachment from all earthly pleasures.
Indeed, these were no ordinary sadhuis, but belonged to the special Saman order that was created in the early 1980s by the late Archarya Tulsi, the spiritual head of the Jain Terapanth religious sect. Traditionally, the only way a Jain muni or sadhvi could get from one place to an other was on foot. That they are required to keep walking so that they do not develop an attachment to any one place is another matter. In view of the fact that an increasing number of Jains were settling in countries outside India, the
Acharya deemed it necessary to create a new order of special sadhvis who would be allowed to use the benefits of modern transport to cater to the spiritual needs of the community.
As expected, there was a storm of protest. More than just a break from tradition, the fact that the spiritual karma of the Samanis might be compromised by asking them to do less than what was expected of full-fledged sadhvis was also an issue. "We of course, had full faith in the spiritual wisdom of our Acharya," said one, who had been initiated in the first batch of Samanis.
Today the Saman order is a reality and welcomed across the community, especially by those settled outside the country. "Not just the Jains, but other Indians, no matter what their religion,
PANTINGS COURTESY NTERGOLD
41 VARDHAMAN
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