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Tuesday, December 18, 2007

The six Substances(Dravyas) in jain philosophy

By:- Dr. Amit Prakash Jain. (Acknowledgement:- Shee Shreepalan V.C. ji)

Let me discuss about the 6 substances in jain philosophy which are commonly called as 6 dravyas.
A Dravya is a constitution of qualities (goons).
Means if you consider sugar as a dravya then the sweetness, the whiteness , the crystalline shape etc are its quqlities.
Now , in jain philosophy there are 6 dravyas or substances which includes all the things which one can imagine.Really it is complete, nothing is out of this classification.
These 6 substances are:-Jeev , Pudgal, Dharma, Adharma, Akash and Kaal.

1. Jeev:- it means the Aatma or the Soul.
The nature of this substance (quaality or goonn) is 'to know & to see' that is "gyaan & darshan".We all are are 'jeevs'.

2. Pudgal:- this is a peculiar teminology which is exclusively present only in the jain philosophy.
Pudgal is the matter & the energy.They both are interconvertible- science has also proved this.
Pudgal- means that it is every second destoyed & formed but maintains its existence ( & so do all other dravyas).Our bodies & all what we can see by our eyes are pudgal.
No opther dravya can be seen by our naked eye-means pudgal is 'roopi' that is it has a form/physique.
Rest all other dravyas are seen by the eyes of knowledge only.

3. Dharma:- It is amoortik (no form, can't be seen).It is a force which helps in the movement of any Dravya.
It is the medium,without it a dravya can't move but then also it is not the initiator nor it is the driver.For eg: if a train has to mone then it needs rail-track to move.It doesn't mean that the track is moving the train.

4. Adharma dravya:- It is not the sins or 'paap' as the name looks like.
It is the force which helps the dravyas to rest, but is not the cause of rest.The same eg of rail-track can be taken here also. Here it helps the train to rest( a train can't rest without the track).

5. Akash:- It is the space in which all the dravyas are present.It is divided into 2- Lokakash (where the jeevs are there) & Alokakash-where jeevs are not there.

Note:- The dharma & adharma dravyas are present only in lokakash & that is why the jeevs & pudgals are also there in the Lokakash only.

6. Kaal:- It means the time.

Note:- - Jeev dravya & Pudgal dravya are countless (asankhyaat) in number.
-Kaal dravya is also counless in quantity.
-Akash is one in quantity.
-unvierse & the Substances exists from beginning less time - anaadhi and not ‘beginning –adhi’ and they all will be existing for all the times to come.

Now, none of these dravyas can be created nor destroyed.
No one has created them & nobody can destroy them.
They have their existence from the beginning (Aadi) & will be there till the anant(infinite).
There is no one who is making these dravyas-what to do & when to do etc.
The forms (paryayas) of these dravyas changes continuosly
.

Scientists have proved this philosophy of jina dharma in the context of the pudgal- it says "matter can niether be created nor destroyed, it only changes from one form to the other".

Science looks in the context of only the matter & not the soul & so till date it has gained only this much, but jina dharma (veetraag dharma) deals primarily with self-soul & so we have got all this.


From the writter:-
I am very happy to say that I am fortunate to get significant advices of Shree Shreepalanji in presenting this article in this form.
I hope It will be helpful for the beginners to learn about the jain-philosophy.

Monday, December 10, 2007

The story of 'Rakshabandhan in Jainism

The Story of 'Rakshabandhan' in Jainism
BY:- Dr. Amit Prakash Jain
I am going to tell the story of 'Rakshabandhan' in jainism.

Long back, at the time of the 14th tirthankar Shree Anantnath Swami Bhagwan, there was a dharmatma king ruling with his wife in the Ujjaini nagri.The king had 4 Brahmin ministers named:- Bali, Namuchi, Brahaspati & Prahlad.These ministers were orthodox followers of the vedas & were strictly against the jain faith.
.One day, in the outskirts of Ujjain, Akampanacharya, who was a digamber jainaachaarya ,came with the his 700 shishys(munis) .When citizens heard this news they went for their darshans.Seeing this the king also decided to go to have darshans of the saints.But, the ministers said to the king that these saints are not true ones and are fools & are not of the worthy to be paid obeisence by the king.But, the king was a good person & he said that he will surely go to the munis.So the ministers also unwillingly went with the king to the munis.
In the meantime, the great Aacharya saw by his 'aqvadhi gyan'(it is a special quality of some munis to see the things of past, present & the future) that the ministers of this kingdom are against the jainism & can create problems & so he ordere all the munis to take 'maun vrata' that is not to speak anything.But, unfortunately one of the munis named as Shrutsaagarji did not heard this order as he was in the city to take the 'aahar' or food.Now, the king reached the place with his ministers & bowed down his head before the munis but due to their vrats they didn't said anythiong to the king.At this the minister named Bali said that see how arrogant these munis are , theey even can't speak anything & we think that they are fools & that is why they are not opening their mouths so that their their foolishness is disguised.At last the king returned from their , but in the way they saw muni Shrutsaagarji coming after having his food .Bali laughed at the muni & said a shlok in sanskrit which meant that "look an ox after grazing is coming before us".At this the highly learnt muni said another shlok which had the same sanskrit words but with the meaning that stimulated the ministers.The muni & the minister then had a vaad-vivaad (debate).The muni was very intelligent & he defeated those minister in the debate.This made the minister to be embarressed before the king.So, the ministers decided to take the revenge of this, they decided to kill the munis.So in the night they went to the outskirts of the city.
But, meanwhile Shrutsaagar told everything to the aacharya who said that this will bring the whole sangh into trouble .
So, the aacharya said to muni Shrutsaagarji that he should go back to the site of the debate & do dhyana for the whole night at that place.
The muni accepted it & went into the city to the place where he had debate & he sat on the site & started his aatma-dhyana.
Now, in the meanwhile the 4 brahmin ministers as they were going to the sangh, saw the muni in their way & recognised him.They said to each other that he is the culprit , why we should give punishment to the whole sangh.Let us kill only this muni.
They took out their swords simultaneously & raised them to kill the muni who was in dhyana.
Suddenly the Nagar-devata of the Ujjaini city with his supernatural powers made these ministers 'frozen' & like this they were made immobile & the muni was saved.
In the following morning the citizens saw the ministers being frozen with their swords raised on the muni & they soon understood everything.
The king came to know this news , ran to the muni & touched his feets & said sorry to him.
The king said that he is going to give death-sentence to the ministers .At this the mercyful muni asked the king not to give the death-sentence to the ministers , SO the king ordered that these ministers' face must be blackened & they must be placed on donkeys & their procession is to be taken into the whole of the city & then they must be thrown out of the city for ever.
The punishment was executed as per the orders of the king & the 4 ministers were thrown out of the city.
They felt very humiliated & took a pledge to take a good revenge of it.
They travelled a lot of miles in the north to reach up to the city of Hastinapur which was then ruled by king Padma.
Bali & the other exiled ministers went to his court & sang a lot of things in the praise of the king & as they were brahmins so they gave him some blessings.
The king became very happy with these & asked them to become his ministers.They agreed.
Soon Bali came to realise that the king is having some problem due to which he can't enjoy his life properly.
One day bali asked the king about his problem.
The king said that his father was a Chakravarti & many kings were under him but then he took Jain-deeksha & attained salvation , My elder brother Shree Vishnukumar has also become jain-muni.
Due to this some of the kings who were under us are now not obeying me & a king of the nearby kingdom is planning to annexe my kingdom.This is my problem.
Bali said that he can bring the offending king to his feets.
At this the king said that if he can do this then it will be a very great boon for him.
Bali along with the other 3 ministers went to the offender king & said that they are betraying the king Padma & they can make this king conquer the state of Hastinapur.
The offender king accepted them as his friends.Bali asked that they should have a confidential talk with no other person inside the room. The king agreed & then Bali took out his sword & made the king to obey his orders.
The offender king was arrested by Bali & the 3 ministers & were taken to the king Padma of Hastinapur.
King Padma was so happy that he sweared to give 2 boons to Bali.
At this Bali said that he will ask these 2 boons later on & the king agreed.
Many years passed & rainy season was about to come.
The sangh of Akampanachaarya passing thru many states came to the Hastinapur nagari.
The ministers recognised the munis & their pledge to take the revenge got nourished.
Bali went to the king Padma & reminded him about his 2 boons.The king asked him to take his boons.
Bali said- "my 1st boon is that I want to be the king of Hastinapur for 7 days & my 2nd boon is that you will live inside the palace for these 7 days".
The king agreed tothis..
Now Bali ordered to build an altar around the muni-sangh for a Nar-medh yajna.
The munis taking this as 'upsarg' went into dhyana.
Then Bali ordered to put woods & ghee in the altar( in which the munis were in dhyana.
He started giving a lot of charity to the brahmins who came to his yajna.
He lighted a fire in the alter & the hot air & smoke made the munis black.
The king was not able to do anything against this & was helpless.
The pains of the munis gradually increased & they can't even breath in.
Far away in the east in the Mithila city there was an aacharya sitting in dhyana with his shishya who was a chhullak.
This aacharya saw that the sraavan nakshatra was vibrating & a long "haaa-----" came out of his mouth.
The chhillak asked what has happened? The guru answered that that he can see by his Avadhigyan that there is a great upsarg on the munis at Hastinapur.
The chhullak said that we must do something.
Guru asked him to use his power of trevvelling in the air & go to the moutain named as Dharnijhhat.
There Muni Vishnukumar is in deep dhyana, he has got the 'vikriya riddhi'.
You go and ask him to save the munis.
The chhulak without wasting anytime went to the mountain & did what was asked by his guru.
Muni Vishnukumar was elder brother of king Padma SO he 1st went to him and scolded him & then using his vikriya (power to change the size of body to any limit) made his body of 52 anguls( a small height).He took the make-up of a batuk brahmin & went to Bali to ask for the charity.
Bali said to the batuk to ask whatever he wants.
At this the batuk asked Bali to 1st take the pledge that he will give him whatever he asks. Bali did so.
Then the batuk asked that he wants 3 step land to do yajna & he will measure the land with his own legs.
Bali laught at him and said" I pity on you brahmin , what a small thing you asked?"
But batuk said that he want this only & nothing else.
Bali said "go ahead and measure your 3 steps"?
The batuk used his vikriya riddhhi & made his body so large that ni his 1st step he put his feet on the sumeru mountain & with his next step he put his feet on the maanushotar parvat .
Now there was no place left for him to keep his feet to measure his 3rd step.
He shouted at Bali" give me the place to put my 3rd step, oh sinner you will go to hell"
Bali showed his back & asked the batuk to put his 3rd step on his back..
At this the devtas whom Bali used to worship like Narad etc came & asked Visnukumar in the form of batuk to forgive Bali.
Vishnukumar agreed & Bali also asked to forgive & he became a jain.
Vishnukumar again took the digamber deeksha.
That day all the people opf Hastinapur took a pledge that they will give up their lives also to save the dharma & the munis & for this they tieghed a thread on the wrists of each other as reminder for their pledge.
From then only Rakshabandhan is celebrated
.

Friday, November 30, 2007

The classification of the jain literature

By:-Dr Amit Prakash Jain
Many a times we think that there are a number of types of various granths (religious books), & sometimes the topics covered in them are so different from one another that it is not easy for us to believe that these all granths are directing us to the same goal that is "swabhav" or the "dharam".
But, to make it easy there is a classification of the anuyogs or the granths.
The classification is :-
1- Prathmanuyog:- now as the name says it is 'pratham' or the 1st i.e. the'initial' anuyog.
It is initial as it is for the beginners.Here we include the various jain puranas like-
-Padmapuran
-Harivamshpuran
-Mahaveerpuran

-Adipuran etc
Now, in these granths there are stories pf the tirthankaras & other shalaka purush(some special persons).
By the stories of their lives the reader learns the dharma , this help in developing the right faith i.e. the samyakdarshan.
It is noteworthy to mention here that while the Padmapuran contains the jain-Ramayana, the Harivanshpuran has the stories of Shree Krishna.
Stories are simple & attractive for the beginners.The reader learns for eg., from the Padmapuran that even great person like lord Rama & Devi Sita had to face the sorrows due to karmoday. In the same way it gives a message to the reader that this world is 'asaar' or meaningless & the real sukh is there in the salvation.

2-Charnanuyog:-
this group of the granths deals with the description of the charitras or the conduct of vthe shraavaks & the munis.
Ratnakraandshravakaachar written by Shree Samantbhadraacharyaji some 2000yrs back is the prototype of the charananuyog granths.
In this granth the aacharya has given the examples pf the good shraavaks to those munis who have distracted from the samyakdarashan & he has given examples of the samyakdrishti animals to the shravaks who have distracted from the samyakdarashan
Yes, I am correct- jainism believes that even ananimal can have samyakdarshan.

3-Karnanuyog:- this group deals with the Jain-geography & mathematics.
It explains about the gunsthaans and the margnasthans, jeevdasha etc.
These topics are certainly not for the beginners & so we find that these granths are studied by the scholars & munis etc
The ultimate aim of the granths is also to lead to "swabhav" i.e. dharma
Examples of this group's granths are:-
Shree Shathkhandaagam, etc


4- Dravyanuyog:- this is the group of the graths which states directly the swabhav (the essence of dharma) of the six dravyas (substances) & primarily that of the jeeva-dravya.
It is 'direct' because what ever it is explaining is the ultimate aims of the other above 3 groups that is to say that "vastu swabhavo iti khalu dhammo"- the nature of the substance is its dharma.
This group includes:-
Samaysaar, Pravachansaar, Panchaastikaay .ASthpahud & the Panchaastikaay.

The above mentioned 5 granths are called as the 'Panch parmaagams' written by Aacharya Shree Kundkund bhagwaan, some 2000yrs back in the prakrit languag.
I must mention here that the paramagams were written by Kundkundaacharya dev after listening to the divya-dhoni of the Kevali Shree Srimandhar Swmi Bhagwan at Videhkshetra.

There are hundred and one definitions of the dharma in jainism but all means the same & ultimately all the granths leads to swabhav which is dharma.

" I am jeev dravya,gyan is my gunn (quality) & 'to know' is my 'paryay'"- this is the essence of all these anuyogs.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

WHAT IS TERAPANTH & BEESPANTH IN DIGAMBER JAINISM?

;">history of the beespanth and the terapanth in digamber jainism
BY:- Dr. Amit Prakash Jain

Let me discuss with you all about the worship of the devis(female goddesses) in India.In the times of Harrappan civilization, there are evidences of the worship of some female deities.Some says that these were the godess mother earth-though nothing can be confirmly said.In the vedas, almost no female goddess has been worshiped.
But, the puranas of hindus, jains $ the buddhist describes female deities in some or the other way- the hindus has devi Laxmi, Saraswati,Kali etc while the jains have the Shasan devis, Yakshnis etc, $ the buddhists have Tara devi.Historians regard that the time of the initiation of the importance of the female godesses in the above 3 religion was nearly the same i.e. the gupta periad.
In south, the worship of the Shasan devis amongst the jains is very popular.In fact, the whole procedure of worship in the south India ( in jains) is nearly the same as the hindus has anywhere in india.Jains offer flowers, fresh fruits, sweets , panchamrit to Jinendra dev, moreover the worship of the devis is very much importaant $ we can say that it is a part $ parcel of their religiou life.

It must be analysed in a scientific way as to why this kind of hinduoid ( i.e. like hindus) worship is seen in south indian jains.

Firstly I would like to clealy say that both graheet & agraheet mithyaatva is very popular amongst the north indian jains too.

Now, let us do the analysis of what happened in south:--
the time which historians call as'the golden period in the indian history' was in reality a dark period for the jainism & buddhism.-this was the time somewhere around 800 A.D.

At this time the ever-important Aadishankaraacharya was born.- the atrocities on the shramans were at their peak in his time
.- Jainism was getting the royal patronage in south , so it was taken as the major rival in the south by the addvitvaadis .While buddhism was enjoying the royal patronage at most of the other places, so it was treated as the major rival
.- Atrocities on jains in south included the killing of munis& shravaks, destruction of temples , coversion of the temples into that of the other religion, forced conversion of the jains into other religion.
- Somehow , the theory of 'the survival of the fittest' of Darwin played its role & there occured many favourable adaptations according to the then prevelent circumstances- & the result was that the whole of the rituals & practices or rather what we see in a religion from outside were such that it was difficult to differentiate between the jainism & the hinduism.-

Devis with many hands & weapons etc were started worshipped by the jains.

- Navraatra was started celebrated by the jains for these devis- Javaareys ( the plants of wheat grown for devis in navraatras) were started to be offered to the devis by the jains.

- And, the 'Samaysaar' was non-formally banned as it clearely contradicted the then prevelent practices.Gradually, the devis became an essential part of the jain temples- no temple would have been thought of without the pratishtha of the devi & the devtas

- Then in front of the veetraag idol itself peole worshipped the devis.- A time came when these devis got more importance than even the tirthankaras.Nothing was significant & distinct in jainism which could attract the masses

, so the number of the followers declined but still the rule of Darwin worked & the fittest survived - still lakhs of jains live in south but their number can't be even compared with what it used to be in the pre-shankaraacharya eraOnly thing which could be taken as merit when we talk of that time is that - these fittest jains were able to preserve the religious scriptures & many of the ancient jain temples.

Only thing which could be taken as merit when we talk of that time is that - these fittest jains were able to preserve the religious scriptures & many of the ancient jain temples.-

Again, it would be worthwhile to mention that the devi-devataa's worship was also popular in the north India in the medieval period

.The medieval period saw the famous'Bhaktimovement' in hinduism & the 'sufi movement' in Islam.Really, there was something which was common in all these devlopments in the religious field & this was that the people were away from reading the holy books which could give them the real knowlege & that the age-old ignorance had created a lot of superstitions & irrational practices in the society( i.e. in all religions)It was thus very rightly regarded as the'dark period' of the history.

- At this time it was quiet easy & rather a forward step for the people to accept the new practices & to again go-back to read & understand the original texts.Thus, this time saw many great developments in jainism too , like for eg. Pt. Todarmalji, Pt.Banaarsidasjee & so on.-These persons were highly devoted in the study of the original jain texts & they braught many refoms in jainism -

BUT ,as it always happens that the age-old practices are not easily given-up & this leads to a clash between the old & the new.- This happened in jain socviety too, & we saw a division of what is called as of the tera & bees panths gamber jainism