Jainism

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.

Jainism is a religion based on cosmic principles, eternal principles on which this colossal machinery runs without any mistake or even a single momentary halt. The principles of modern science are true and temporary in particular context of space and time only, but the principles of Jainism are true for all time, for all space, for everybody and everything. Jainism throws light on the colossal structure of universe, its shape, size, origin, purpose and mechanism. It deals in perfect details with six reals out of which the universe is made. Everything that happens in the universe is according to the fixed pattern of eternal laws, which are unshakable and infallible.

Jainism does not belong to any particular sect or fixed dogmas. Jainism does not say that some particular class will be given freedom and the others will remain in bondage, it is a perfect form of democracy. It emphasises equality of opportunities to achieve perfect freedom and spiritual perfection, be it a highborn or any backward class member, even the lowest form of life. Each one has the potentiality of reaching the highest state. It believes that every soul has immense power, which can be released like the nuclear energy.

Jainism believes there are two kinds of energies, one is the energy of mechanism and the other is the energy of intelligence. In technical terms they are called matter and life. (Jada and Chetana). Energies of gravitation, magnetism and electricity are believed to be three scientific forces, which sustain the universe. But the subtle forces of silence and solitude of surrender and prayer, of love and sympathy, of dedication and determination these subtle forces etc., are manifestation of the energies of intelligence. It is a rule in nature that subtle forces of Yoga- (The activities of mind, speech and body are more powerful than the gross forces of material science).

Two kinds of Energies

"The energy of intelligence not through mind alone, nor through heart alone but through the whole of your totality is the highest wisdom" says Jainism. You should distinctly distinguish between what you are and what you are not. Jainism starts with the Holy curiosity to know the marvelous structure of reality and ends in the flawless perfection which is the combination of Joy, Knowledge and Energy.

The Fundamentals of Jain Philosophy are that (this universe) the whole cosmos is self-created, self ruled, self regulated and self-administered, according to the mighty and eternal cosmic law. Every conceivable subject in Jain Scriptures is well discussed in a systematic and convincing way that one would realise that if the Jain Doctrines are well understood and practised, it is certain that the world will enjoy lasting peace and prosperity instead of present day, world of hatred and violence!

Practically all religions have individuals as Supreme God. Jain religion believes that all worldly souls possess inherent attributes (principle qualities) 4 original - infinite knowledge, Infinite Cognisance, Infinite Power, but wordly souls are obscured by the veil of Karman and when liberated they can reach the highest state.

The word 'Dharma':- some aspects...

1. Ordinarily it means 'Pious Act
2. Dharma - Duty : towards others, elders, dependents, sub-ordinates, society, country etc.
3. Dharma - Nature :

Nature of fire is to burn

Nature of water is to cool

Nature of soul is conscience, sentient, immortality, infinite knowledge, perception, energy, bliss, longs to be purified, to rise upward to Moksha- Eternal salvation.

4. Dharma -Religion : That saves one from sinking in the temporal ocean of births and deaths (Samsar). Religion consists of Dana, Sheel, Tapa, Bhava. (Charity, Chastity, Penance and Intention.)

The highest Charity is to give freedom from fear -the fear of death, injury, torture, hurt, oppression, etc. Chastity means complete control of impure desires of five senses and mind including celibacy. Penance is of twelve kinds to purify the soul from all Karmic energies. Intention means all of the above mentioned three should be with soul aim/ intent of achieving the spiritual zenith.

5. Dharma- Spiritual: Samyaka/ Jnana, Darshana and Charitra (Right & True Knowledge, Faith and Conduct)

6. Dharma - Shramana Dharma (monkhood) having ten fold

(i) Khsama : forgiveness, forbearance.
(ii) Mardava : humbleness, politeness, humility and courtest
(iii) Arjava : frankness, straight forwardness, deceitless
(iv) Mukti : free from desires, greed and expectations
(v) Tapa : penance of twelve kinds.
(vi) Samyama : to stop all inflow of karmas
(vii) Satya : beneficial, pleasant and well-thought truth, avoiding untruth.
(viii) Saucha : purity of conduct , to avoid all short-comings.
(ix) Akimchanya : to abstain from wealth and other material desires, even love and affection of own body.
(x) Bhramcharya : complete celibacy, chastity in thought, word and deed.


Universe and its constituents

The basis of the constitution of the cosmos lay in the basic substance called Dravya or Reals in the Jain Holy Scriptures. Every Real has three characteristics, Creation (emergence), Destruction (annihilation) and Permanence (persistence) "Utpada, Vyaya and Dhrouvya" with infinite qualities and subqualities. It means that every substance possesses the quality of permanence (Dhrouvya) generation (Utpada) and decay (Vyaya) as modification of itself.

In order to clearly understand the characteristics of Dhrouvya, we may take an example of gold bangles broken and made into a necklace with the same gold, the substance persists (Dhrouvya), bangle is destroyed (Vyaya) and the necklace is created, (Utpada). Every material object in the same manner is changing constantly. Yet the basic attribute (Guna), essential character, remains forever.

The sensible world and the intelligible world

Far and away the most influential passage in Western philosophy ever written is Plato's discussion of the prisoners of the cave and his abstract presentation of the divided line. For Plato, human beings live in a world of visible and intelligible things. The visible world is what surrounds us: what we see, what we hear, what we experience; this visible world is a world of change and uncertainty. The intelligible world is made up of the unchanging products of human reason: anything arising from reason alone, such as abstract definitions or mathematics, makes up this intelligible world, which is the world of reality. The intelligible world contains the eternal "Forms" (in Greek, idea ) of things; the visible world is the imperfect and changing manifestation in this world of these unchanging forms. For example, the "Form" or "Idea" of a horse is intelligible, abstract, and applies to all horses; this Form never changes, even though horses vary wildly among themselves—the Form of a horse would never change even if every horse in the world were to vanish. An individual horse is a physical, changing object that can easily cease to be a horse (if, for instance, it's dropped out of a fifty story building); the Form of a horse, or "horseness," never changes. As a physical object, a horse only makes sense in that it can be referred to the "Form" or "Idea" of horseness. Plato imagines these two worlds, the sensible world and the intelligible world, as existing on a line that can be divided in the middle: the lower part of the line consists of the visible world and the upper part of the line makes up the intelligible world. Each half of the line relates to a certain type of knowledge: of the visible world, we can only have opinion (in Greek: doxa); of the intelligible world we achieve "knowledge" (in Greek, epistemŽ). Each of these divisions can also be divided in two. The visible or changing world can be divided into a lower region, "illusion," which is made up of shadows, reflections, paintings, poetry, etc., and an upper region, "belief," which refers to any kind of knowledge of things that change, such as individual horses. "Belief" may be true some or most of the time but occasionally is wrong (since things in the visible world change); belief is practical and may serve as a relatively reliable guide to life but doesn't really involve thinking things out to the point of certainty. The upper region can be divided into, on the lower end, "reason," which is knowledge of things like mathematics but which require that some postulates be accepted without question, and "intelligence," which is the knowledge of the highest and most abstract categories of things, an understanding of the ultimate good

Zoroastrianism Basic beliefs

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• The transcendental and universal God Ahura Mazda, the one uncreated Creator and to whom all worship is directed.
• That creation is attacked by violence and destruction. The resulting conflict involves the entire universe, including humanity, which has an active role to play in the conflict. Ahura Mazda will ultimately prevail, at which point time will end.
• Active participation in life through good thoughts, words and deeds are necessary to ensure happiness and to keep evil at bay.
• The free will to decide whether to perform good thoughts, words and deeds.

• Not of Zarathushtra's original teachings, but nonetheless accepted by some as doctrine, are:
  • Evil is represented by Angra Mainyu (literally 'destructive spirit'). In articulating the Ahuna Vairya formula, Ahura Mazda made his ultimate triumph evident to Angra Mainyu, who then fell back confounded.
  • After death, the soul is allowed three days to meditate on his/her past life. If the good thoughts, words and deeds outweigh the bad, then the soul is taken into heaven. Otherwise, the soul is led to hell.
  • The universe will go through three eras:
  1. creation;
  2. the present world where creation is under attack.
  3. a final state when Ahura Mazda will prevail, all the universe will revert to its pure state and the occupants of hell will be released.

• Precepts include:

1. equality of all people
2. respect, kindness to all living things
3. the values of hard work, charity
4. loyalty, faithfulness to family, country

Is a Marriage Sacrosanct?

Why is a Marriage Sacrosanct?

In Hinduism, man and woman represent the two halves of the divine body. There is no question of superiority or inferiority between them. However, it is a scientific fact that the emotional side is more developed in women. This does not mean that intellectually, women are inferior. Hindu history is witness to the super-women, like Gargi, Maitreyi and Sulabha, whose faculty of reasoning was far superior to that of ordinary mortals. But owing to organic differences in their physical and emotional constitutions, women are temperamentally more emotional than men.

Duties of a Hindu Woman
Having recognized this fact, Hindu scriptures (Shastras) have allotted certain specific duties to Hindu women. These duties include maintaining domestic peace, adjustment of social relations and attainment of spiritual perfection.

The Idea of Marriage
The idea behind the institution of marriage in Hinduism is to foster, not self-interest, but love for the entire family. Practice of self-restraint is the ideal of marriage in Hinduism. It is the love and duty cultivated for the entire family that prevents the break-ups.

Men by nature are less capable of self-restraint than women. That is why, after marriage the Hindu women lead the men by keeping the lustful propensities under control. While married, thought of any other man does not enter the mind of a Hindu lady until she loses her faith in her husband due to his consistent misbehavior and 'don't care' attitude.

The Sanctity of Marriage
The present-day Hindu husbands fail to recognize the sacrifices and lofty ideals of Hindu wives, and thus compel them to follow the worst of the West. During the nuptial ceremony in a Vedic marriage, both the bride and the bridegroom take oath for the practice of self-restraint, to work together for the welfare of the family and to help each other to attain spiritual peace. This lofty ideal of sanctity is a great gift of Hinduism to the world at large.

Protecting the Institution
It should be a matter of great concern that we have begun to ignore the ancient and lofty ideals of Hindu marriage and are anxious to follow in the footsteps of cultures that do not value these ideals. No wonder, the number of divorce suits filed by Hindu couples is on the rise. Instead of strengthening the traditional ideals, which for thousands of years have helped us prevent marriage and family break-ups, we are misdirecting our energies towards promoting the ideal of sense-enjoyment and self-interest. In my opinion it is still not too late to be proactive to protect the sanctity of Hindu marriage.

The palladium and emblem of Vietnam.

While in Western mythology the dragon is an evil beast, and best illustrated by the story of St George and the dragon, in the East--especially in mainland Asia --it has opposite significance. The dragon is the totem, the palladium and emblem of Vietnam. It is the symbol of man in general, just as the woman is represented by the phoenix, another of the four mythical animals of the land. When a dragon and phoenix are shown together either in cloth designs or carvings, a marriage is represented.

According to popular belief the dragon is a genie that preside over the creation of meteors and other cosmic activities. In addition, he is often considered to be god of the waters who lives in the sea and rivers.

According to the Chinese tradition still prevalent in Vietnam, the has the horns of deer, head of camel, belly of a crocodile, scale of a fish and buffalo like hair. Its hearing ability is in its horns, rather than in its ears. The neck of serpent, eyes of a demon and claws of an eagle complete the strange figure.

There are many legends about the dragon, with some being used to explain the origin of the Vietnamese people. One of these tells the story of a Vietnamese king named Lac-long Quang (circa 2,500 BC) of the dragon race who kidnapped the wife of his cousin the Chinese king De-Lai and got 100 eggs. From these came 100 boys -- 50 of these, taking after their father, became water genial; the other 50 took after their mother and became land dwellers. One of the latter founded the hung-Vurong dynasty, but its kings were still more at home at the bottom of the rivers than in their places.

While Vietnam had a dynasty and from time to time the ruler died, the Vietnamese did not say "The King is dead” but rather, "The dragon has gone up into the upper regions,"

Source from: The Religious of South Vietnam in Faith and fact.

What is Religion ?

Different people think different things about religion and spirituality. As understood in India,
what religion is can be put, in the words of Swami Vivekananda, as below.
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Each soul is potentially divine.

The goal is to manifest this Divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal.

Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy -- by one, or more, or all of these
and BE FREE.This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or
forms are but secondary details.
(From commentary on Patanjali Yoga Sutras II.25)
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Explanation of terms ...

soul
A soul is a self-conscious being with a past and a present. A soul might or might not have a physical body.

divine
By divine, we mean the following --

* Absolute (Eternal) Existence
* Absolute Knowledge
* Absolute Bliss
* Absolute Freedom

nature
Nature is anything other than the Self. Anything objectifiable -- anything which can be referred to
as "This is (my) _____" is a part of Nature. This includes the physical universe, the body, the mind, the intellect, the ego.

external and internal
The mind, intellect and ego are internal. The body and the physical universe are external.

control
To "control" is to "be free from the influence of".

work
This constitutes Karma Yoga -- the path of selfless work.

Prerequisite -- capacity to work
Quality to be developed -- selflessness
Pitfall -- attachment to results

worship
This constitutes Bhakti Yoga -- the path of devotion.

Prerequisite -- capacity to feel emotionally
Quality to be developed -- control of emotions
Pitfall -- sentimentalism

psychic control
This constitutes Raja Yoga -- the path of concentration.

Prerequisite -- concentration of mind
Quality to be developed -- will power
Pitfall -- supernatural powers

philosophy
This constitutes Jnana Yoga -- the path of knowledge.

Prerequisite -- sharp intellect
Quality to be developed -- self-enquiry
Pitfall -- dry logic (intellectual gymnastics)

... by one or more, or all of these ...
The core of every religion is a combination of the four paths. Depending on the capability of the person,
he/she can pick up one or more of them.

Be Free
This is the goal -- to be free from all attachments.

Doctrines
Every religion has a "model" of man, world and God. These are the assumptions on which the practical
religion is based on.

Dogmas
Every religion has a set of beliefs. It is a place to start. Later, at advanced stages, all beliefs have to be
understood. Dogmas are only for beginners.

Rituals
Every religion has a set of rituals and regulations to be followed. These are mainly to develop the
prerequisites and the desired qualities for a person following the particular path; no further.

Books
Almost every well established religion has a book. These are guidelines given by people who have
tread the path before.

Temples
These are places exclusively meant for practice of the religion. These are aids to put the person into
the grove. Practice of religion must carried out everywhere.

Forms
These are aids for the mind to concentrate on the goal. Forms are meant to remind the person of God;
no further.

In the words of Swami Vivekananda,
Religion is the Eternal Relationship between the Eternal Soul and the Eternal God.

Unlimited desires

Man is deluded by his unlimited desires.He is living in a dream world. He is living in a dream world. He is forgetting the supreme Conciousness Curtail your desires,as materialstic desires lead to a restless and disastrous life.Desire are a prison, Man can be freed only by limiting his wants. You should have desire only for life's bare necessaties.

Firstly,eat only what you need to eat. Do not be gluttonous. Do not take more than you can eat and waste the rest,because wasting food is a great sin.Food is the main source of man's life,body,mind and character. The reason for the present beastly and demonic tendencies in our minds is the food we consume.

Secondly, consider the ways in which money is spent. Do not misuse money; by doing so,you will only become a slave to bad qualities,bad ideas and bad habits. Use your money wisely and only for good deeds.

A man should own only as much wealth as is essentials. It is like the size of his shoes. If the shoes are too loose, he cannot walk; If they are too tight,he cannot wear them. Money is like manure,piled up in one place, it fouls the air, Spread it wide, scatter it over fields, it rewards you with a bumper harvest.

Thirdly examine the use of time.One should not waste time. Time should be sanctified because every thing in creation is dependent on time. Do not defile time by gossiping and un-necessary talk.

Fourthly, conservation of energy is very important. Our physical ,mental and spiritual energies should never be wasted. seeing bad things,speaking evil, thinking evil thoughts, and doing evil deds all waste your energy.
Conserve your energy in all these four areeas,and make your life more meaningful.