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The teachings of Jaina religion

 

Lesson-4

      

Mother :   (To her daughter)  Yesterday I was telling you about the

               teachings of Jain religion.

Daughter: Yes mom, What is the concept of Ahimsa and how to

               practices it?  

Mother : Practice of non- violence is Ahimsa. It is the expression of

             compassion in every action. We should avoid mental and

             physical violence towards ourselves, towards our parents

             and other family members and also towards other human

             beings and animals. We should avoid bad feelings and

             thoughts. This is a violence of self. We should not smoke,

             drink alcohol or use drugs. These things are bad for our

             health apart from violence in many ways. We should not

             kill animals, birds & their eggs, fish and insects etc. We

            Jainas are vegetarians. We should take care to not to hurt

            any living thing knowingly or unknowingly.

 
Daughter: What is the concept of Satya?

 

  Mother: Satya is neither to tell a lie nor cause others to tell. The

              speech should be for the welfare of others. We should

              also keep in mind that the feeling of others are not hurt in

              any form

    Daughter:  What is the concept of Acauraya?

 

    Mother:   Acauraya is non - theft or non steeling. This would 

                  mean that we should not accept anything which is not

                  given to us or does not belong  to us.

 

    Daughter :  What is the concept of Brahmacarya?  

 

    Mother :  Brahmacarya means chastity. One should not involve

                 in sexual relations except one’s own spouse only.

   Daughter:  What is Aparigraha?

 

Mother: Parigraha means passionate attachment. So Aparigraha is

           the practice of non-attachment to worldly things and

           pleasures. The house- holder is incapable of renouncing all

           parigraha. Therefore he should limit the parigraha of wealth,

           buildings etc. This is parigraha-Pariman- Vrata.    

               To   achieve Aparigraha, we should limit our wants and

           control our desires.  We should acquire only what we barely

          need. We should avoid waste.

 

    Daughter :  Ma, What is so unique about the teaching of Jaina

                    religion?

 

    Mother:  First, the Jainism believes in the complete independence

                of each individual. it teaches that self help is the only

                means to achieve such independence. Jainism is the religion

                that gives us impendence even from God. We are responsible

                for our lives. Every thing in our lives occur as a result of our

                own thoughts and actions. Second, our all knowledge is relative.

                So, we should be open minded and fair.

               We should understand others’ view -point. This will enable us

               to get a proper  and complete perspective of the events and 

              situations. This is the unique principle of Anekanta. Third,

              according to Jainism, truth, non-stealing, chastity and non-

              attachment are manifestation of non violence. Thus, non- violence

              is supreme religion in Jainism. Jainism teaches us to minimize mental

              as well as physical violence.  

                                                                                             

The End.

          

 

            

Note:- All the words in italic are from PRAKRTA, SANSKRTA  language.

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