Query:
Can u
help me know what exactly Jainism is? Tell me how to meditate while performing
asanas
Vijay
Kumar:
Who is a
Jain? One who follows the Jaina traditions ... Jainism has never ever been spelled
as a Religion ... it is a way of life. The word Jain was derived from the word
"Jina" ... one who has won his true self ... one who has Realized God ... the
knower of Brahman ... one who has come face-to-face with God. One who has become
a Mahavira...
Lord Mahavira never stated that that he is a son of God like Jesus
Christ in Christianity... according to him every human being has the
power to become a Mahavira ... the moment we remove the dross from within ...
our Atman (the soul within comes back to its original pristine pure form ... it
liberates forever from the cycle
of birth and death... our atman the soul within becomes free forever.
By "Jina" ... in
the fables we mean a genie ... one who has come out of the bottle to obey his
master. What it really means is that the moment we Realize God ... we become one
with God Almighty. In the famous Aladdin episode ... the moment Aladdin rubbed
the ring on his finger there appeared a genie ... this simply means that having
remained closed in the dungeon for a long time ... Aladdin realize the true fact
of life ... he truly Realized God ... he in fact had become a genie ... when our
atman the soul within starts to guide us directly then coming out of the dungeon
does not remain a big task ... for now all the powers of the God are available
to us to guide us on the right path.
Mahavira
never prided on the fact that he had realized his real self ... he was full of
compassion for the humanity ... before he left his mortal frame at the age of
72 years ... he had preached for a period of full 30 years ... he realized his
true self at the age of 42. He could have gained Moksha Salvation at that very
moment and left his body ... but before leaving his body he wanted to disseminate
... pass on to the masses what he had learnt of the cosmic wisdom.
As in Buddhism and Christianity
... the followers of Mahavira are not known as Mahaviras. Followers of Buddha
are known as Buddhists (and the Religion as Buddhism) ... a follower of Jesus
Christ are known as Christians (and the Religion ... Christianity) but so is never
the case in Jainism ... for Lord Mahavira is never termed as Mahavira Jain. Thus
... Jainism is considered as a way of life. The Jaina doctrines are there to guide
us on the right path.
In
the chronological order ... Lord
Krishna (an Avataar of the era) came about a thousand years earlier
than Mahavira. Likewise Bhagavad Gita was available almost a thousand years before
... the doctrines of Mahavira were available. No doubting in Jainism ... we have
the blessings of a total of 24 Tirthankars but prominence is given to the last
Tirthankara of the era ... Lord Mahavira! Why so ... up to the 23rd Tirthankara
Lord Parshvanath ... the humanity was not had to assimilate the teachings of Tirthankars
... unless there is some who can understand what is being spoken of ... all cosmic
wisdom would fell on deaf ears.
It
was Mahavira in whose time ... the preaching of Jainism spread amongst the masses
... people were able to decipher what was being said. Up to the 23rd Tirthankara
... all sacred teachings were limited to the learned scholars, Acharyas ... who
were partly able to fathom the depths of the cosmic wisdom. It was only Mahavira
who was able to preach the cosmic wisdom in totality to the humanity. The prime
reason why teachings of Mahavira are given precedence over what the other 23 Tirthankars
tried to preach.
It was only in the times of Mahavira that a person known as Gautam Gani was able
to totally comprehend what was being said and was instrumental in spreading the
teachings of Mahavira to the masses. Learned people like Mahavira can be many
but those who can understand the words of these masters are a few. In the times
of Lord Krishna it was only King Arjuna (on the whole Mother Earth) who was able
to understand the depths of the sayings of Lord Krishna.
How can we differentiate between
Jainism and the teachings of lord Krishna contained in Bhagavad Gita ... Lord
Krishna is never termed as a man God ... he was a living of Avataar ... God Almighty
had himself incarnated so that Dharma could prevail in the end. Whatever is contained
in Jainism is also contained in Bhagavad Gita but the vice versa is not true.
Does it mean that whatever is contained in the Bhagavad Gita does not exist in
Jainism ... yes!
Suppose
Bhagavad Gita contains 16 chapters, which explained the complete origin of mankind
... the total concept from the beginning of the cosmos ... until pralaya (and
of the cosmos) occurs. Compare it with a tree. The stem of the tree is Dharma,
which is always, and ever existing in every Religion of the world. and from this
flows the wisdom of Bhagavad Gita. As this tree of Dharma grows ... it branches
out ... the first branch, which generates after about a thousand years indicates
that Mahavira had Realized God. This branch of Jainism consists most of the prominent
features of the Bhagavad Gita but not the whole content. The followers of this
branch were called Jains.
Mahavira
laid more emphasis Ahimsa. In Bhagavad Gita ahimsa is but a part of the total
document. After about 77 years of Mahavira another branch came out. Gautama Buddha
had gained Realization ... and the branch known as Buddhism. Now Gautama Buddha
laid more emphasis on compassion ... whatever is contained in Buddhism does also
exist in Jainism and not vice versa. Whatever is contained in Jainism does not
exist in Buddhism in totality. Does this mean that out of 16 chapters in Bhagavad
Gita ... Mahavira gave prominence to eight chapters ... thereafter Gautama Buddha
got hold of six chapters and developed his theory of the middle path. Yes! It
is so.
Subsequently
after about 423 years came Jesus Christ ... he followed and emphasized on only
four chapters ... the following known as Christianity. Thereafter about 200 years
came Prophet
Mohammed and so on. In
the last 150 years came Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharishi Ramana
... both have Realized God.
In
Jainism lot of stress is laid on factors like samosaran ... when Lord Mahavira
had Realized God and he wanted to preach ... the words did not come out of his
mouth ... there was no one to catch the essence of his words. It was only when
Gautam Gani reached the scene that Mahavira started the speaking ... in the field
of Spirituality it is very essential that proper pupil is also available to an
enlightened master. Ramakrishna Paramhansa in his lifetime had only one pupil
who could understand him truly ... it was Swami Vivekananda who came searching
for the Guru and ultimately found him. He truthfully served Ramakrishna Paramhansa,
which enabled him to learn the cosmic truths, which could only have been imparted
by a realized soul like Ramakrishna Paramhansa.
Mahavira
also emphasized on the importance of Anekanta vada ... and what does this actually
mean ... Anekanta vada means there can be many viewpoints in respect of a particular
dogma and all may be true. As many people ... as many viewpoints, it is not all
but some of them may point to the same thing. Wanting to drink water an Englishman
will say water, a Hindu "Jal" and a Muslim "Pani" ... all are correct as they
desire the same product. According to Mahavira there was no in disputing the other.
According to him we can always logically come to a firm conclusion.
Another is the theory of syadvada ... a person is walking on the street ... many
children run towards him ... one shouts "papa", another "uncle", the third "granddad".
They all not right ... it is only the related relationships which count. Based
on this principle Alberta Einstein propagated his theory of relativity ... as
per the theory of relativity if to train serving in the same direction with speeds
of 61 and 72 kilometers per hour then the people traveling in train one would
find that people in train two traveling at the speed of nine kilometers an hour.
This is a relative concept but absolutely true.
Anekanta
vada and syadvada played very important roles in the life of Mahavira. In the
final stages of his life before he had Realized God ... he was totally stuck up
... only when the complete doctrine of Anekanta vada was clear to him did he Realize
God.
Mahavira practiced
absolute Spirituality for a continuous period of 12 years ... what does it mean
... it means that Celibacy is to be continuously followed for a continuous period
of 12 years. One needs to preserve his energies so that one can rise to the highest
platform in life ... become a realized soul ... attain Moksha Salvation in this
life. The concentration with which these austere practices are required to be
carried out is expressed in the example given below.
It so happened that Mahavira was so engrossed in self-enquiry that he stood on
the top of a hillock absolutely unaware of the happenings around. There came a
villager who had a few buffaloes with him ... finding a lone person on the top
of the hillock ... he requested Mahavira to take care of the buffaloes as he had
forgotten an important errand to be carried out. Leaving the buffaloes to Mahavira
this poor man went back to the village. After a few hours when he returned he
could not find the trace of buffaloes.
Ignorant
as he was, this villager assumed that Mahavira was an extremely smart person ...
he seems to have hidden the buffaloes somewhere and is pretending as if he does
not know of the matter. He abused Mahavira and ordered him to return the buffaloes.
Mahavira was totally lost in the thoughts ... for him nothing else mattered other
than knowing the absolute truth. Unaware of the happenings around Mahavira kept
quiet. This infuriated the villager further. He went to the village and brought
a set of nails and the hammer.
Abusing
Mahavira that he was misusing his powers of hearing and not willing to reply to
him ... the villager decided to punish Mahavira. He drew the nail from side of
the ear to the other. Blood was flowing freely but Mahavira was still unaware
of the happenings around. Such is the power of concentration, which is required
of the true seeker. Whether it is Jainism, Buddhism, Christianity or the Islamic
Dharma ... the path is the same ... yet, few dare to travel this path for the
benefit of mankind alone.
More people on earth know about Swami Vivekananda then his Guru Ramakrishna Paramhansa.
The logic is clear ... people do not fathom the depths of the teachings of Ramakrishna
Paramhansa ... how does one follow one! The teachings of Swami Vivekananda were
more on a diluted scale ... he was more practical in his approach. In present
times people think that it is extremely difficult to become a Gandhiji these days
what to say of becoming a Swami Vivekananda. Thinking of realizing God and becoming
a Ramakrishna Paramhansa is beyond comprehension.
The
prime reason why Buddhism is more prevalent world-wide then Jainism ... the teachings
in Jainism carry greater depth than in Buddhism ... this makes it difficult to
be understood ... while talking to a publisher of books of ideology ... I was
surprised to learn that publishers preferred printing books of Buddhism a minimum
of thousand numbers. But in Jainism ... the publisher was lucky if he was able
to publish 200 books and yet remain profitable.
There
is no point of criticism amongst various sacred Scriptures like Bhagavad Gita,
the Buddhist literature, the Jaina doctrines, the Bible and the Koran. All these
sacred Scriptures lead to the same goal ... the purpose of all is the same ...
they are but mere different paths to achieve the same goal.
There is one very important aspect in Jainism that does not find prominence in
other Religions of the world. It is the concept of bhava Yoga ... and what does
this mean? Bhava Yoga is the concept that explains the inherent underlying meaning
of the term Karma. Jainism believes in the concept that, "whether we carry out
the physical part of our action or not, if we have in our thoughts considered
ill will of the another then the sin has already been committed. It is totally
another matter that if we get -10 marks for the physical injury then we may be
allotted minus one for the bhava Karma. Even the thought of committing an injury
... the bhava of ill will of the other ... gets us a negative marking on the Spiritual
plane.
This
aspect of bhava Karma is very important to understand as it is only the theory
of residual Karma which is carried on to the next life ... and as bhava Karma
is very intimately connected to theory of karma ... at no stage in life we can
avoid it. Mahavira strongly advocated that we do not have a right to cause an
injury in our thoughts ... it is only the thoughts that prompt us (precipitate)
to carry out the physical aspect of the bhava Karma. If our thinking were of a
serene nature then nothing bad would befall us. No bad thoughts ... the possibility
of our committing a sin would not exist.
Every
Dharma ... Religion has its own pitfalls and words of wisdom ... it is only how
the sayings of, Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita, Buddha in Buddhist literature,
Mahavira in Jaina doctrines, Jesus Christ in Bible and prophet Mohammed in Koran
is interpreted by the Spiritual masters of the day ... in the present Kali Yuga
(metal age) ... interpreting a document for own vested interests is the order
of the day. Yet, we all need to leave our life ... life goes on forever!
Learn more on Yoga and
Meditation here-
Meditation
Techniques - Yoga
Philosophy - Jnana
Yoga
It
is very important for one to understand the meaning of Yoga and Meditation before
we start practicing them. You may send your further queries whenever you have
one! It is only when all queries within us dissolve ... we come face-to-face with
God ... merge with the Almighty Creator.
May
God bless you.
Always
there to clarify your queries (send
your query),
Vijay
Kumar "Atma
Jnani"
Vijay Kumar... The Man who Realized God in 1993 on Jainism Doctrine.
For more on jainism doctrine- jainism believe about salvation visit -
jainism
doctrine |
Full text of query:
I am Jain
. but still i don't know about Jainsum can u help me to know what executly Jainsum
is . i am doing Yoga but i can't able to mediated on my aasans i try my best but
couldn't .Plz help me how i can mediated.
