What is Jainism?
Jainism is nature in the purest and truest form. Jainism is as old as nature,
which has neither beginning nor any end. The mission of Jainism is the mission
of nature, which is to work for the welfare of one and all, to rise from the
pitfall of ignorance and inaction to the spiritual climax of infinite bliss and
perfect knowledge. i.e. absolute freedom.
Namaskar Mantra:
Namo Arihantanam: - I bow to the arithantas - the
ever-perfect spiritual victors
Namo Siddhanam: - I bow to the siddhas - the liberated souls
Namo Ayariyanam: - I bow to acharyas - the leaders of the jain order
Namo Uvajjayanam: - I bow to upadhyayas - the learned preceptors
Namo Loe Savva Sahunam: - I bow to all saints and sages everywhere in the world
Eso Panch Namukkaro: - These five obeisances
Savva PavapPanasano: - Erase all Sins
Mangalancha Savvesin : - Amongst all that is auspicious
Padhamam Havai Mangalam: - This is the foremost
Jainism does not believe in God as a creator, survivor, and destroyer of the
universe. Jainism explains that eight types of vargana and five bodies exist in
the universe.
The eight Vargnas (matters) are:
Audaric vargana - creates the physical body of the living being
Tejas vargana - creates the Tejas body to the living being which provides heat
and digestion power to the audaric body.
Karman vargana - creates Karmic or Causal body
Aharac vargana - creates Aharac body, which is very small in size and is
possessed by some unique soul
Vaikriya vargana - creates Vaikriya body, which can be converted into very small
or large in size
Breathing vargana- provides breathing
Mind vargana - provides mind for thinking
Speech vargana - provides speech
The five bodies are:
Audaric body -The body that we see from the outside (Bahya Sthula Sharira)
is called Audaric body. It is made up of Audaric vargna.
Tejas body - This body is made up of
Tejas vargna. This body is responsible for digestion, heat, etc. in the Audaric
body.
Karmic/Causal Body - (Karmana Sharira)
The karmic matter that covers the soul is called karmic body. It changes every
moment because new karma is continuously attached to the soul due to activities
of body, mind, and speech.
Aharac body - This body is possessed by
some special souls. Aharac body is very small in size. These souls put on this
body to travel far distant places.
Vaikriya body - This body can be obtained by human being by practicing
yoga, meditation, etc. With this body one can transform his body into a very
small or a large size.
|
|
If a person establishes the four-fold religious
order of monks, nuns, sravaks (male laypeople), sravikas (female laypeople) is
known as Tirthankara. He preaches the Jain philosophy, religion, ethics, etc. to
his followers. Tirthankaras are also known as Jina or Nirgrantha. Jina means one
who has conquered his inner passions like desire and hatred. Nirgrantha means
one who has gotten rid of all attachments |
