Jain Santhara : what it really means?

Jain Santhara, has become a big issue. Apparently the court has a put a restriction on it & this has enraged the Jain community. There is a India-wide strike today & a peace rally to protest the restriction & make the court lift the imposed restriction.

All that is okay, but I believe that the Jain community has really forgotten what Santhara really means. Santhara is not a way of dying, but a way of living.

What the general community thinks Santhara means?

What the general Jain community thinks Santhara means, little movement, no eating food & water & removing all possessions to be one with the Universe in peace.

This would be pretty right, except that the Santhara does not come from leaving things, but real Santhara comes from leaving the attachment to things.

It is the attachment that is the real cause of karma-bandhan (paap). For example, an ascetic has no possessions, but neither does a beggar. Then why do we revere ascetics & not beggars? Both have them have no possessions! Because the difference is not in not-owning-possessions, but the real difference is, in not having attachment (aasakti) to them.

Even if a beggar has nothing & lives by the roadside, he wants everything, from bungalows to cars. Whereas, an ascetic has voluntarily left all his possessions, along with, more importantly his or we attachment to those possessions. If an ascetic wants worldly things even after deeksha (sanyaas) then he is no more than a beggar in reality.

And that is the difference that the Jain community seems to have forgotten these days. We have started believing in leaving things rather than leaving our attachment to things. We are today  changing just our clothes for Samayik & not our thoughts, our way of thinking, our attitude towards life.

Santhara in truth is freedom from all worldly possessions & the attachment to them. & that is the real way of Jain living, not just dying. & none but we ourselves are responsible for living truly free from all attachments & there is no one, no law that can stop us from living free. But first we need to realise the difference.

It is just as, the real meaning of Christmas gifting is to help someone in dire need & not just gift to your own loved ones. The real sacrifice on Eid should be of the thing that is the most dear to you because these are the real sacrifices that free us & freedom is all that we really want.

P. S. : this post is based on my personal opinion & understanding of the world. No offence intended.

Why fighting about religion is just plain stupid?

Think of 2 people, both named John Doe. One of them says, "My name is John Doe." The other one says, "मेरा नाम जॉन डो है|"
Now the first one says, the only right way to say it is mine, "My name is John Doe." The other one insists that his way is the right way, "मेरा नाम जॉन डो है|"
Actually from an independent perspective, both of them are correct.

That is all that the fighting about religion/community is.

Everyone is trying to say that their religions shows the "only" correct way, but they are actually the same thing, just in different language or script or methodology or just a different path. Every religion teaches compassion, be helpful to others, don't be selfish, live an honest life etc. basic things that will help you lead a better life, whether you believe in any religion or you are an atheist. No religion (religious "god", whether Prophet, Mahaveer, Buddha, Christ, Guru Nanak or whoever it is that you believe in) ever said that fight with them because they do not follow me.

The methods maybe different, but the goal is the same, to live a happy & peaceful life & help others do that.

Look at it this way : You want to reach Jaipur from New York, now there are many ways to reach Jaipur from New York. Now there are many routes & flights that will take you from New York to Jaipur.

• Air India flight from NYC -> Mumbai -> Jaipur
• Etihad flight from NYC -> Abu Dhabi -> Jaipur
• Jet Airways flight from NYC -> Brussels -> Mumbai -> Jaipur
• Etihad flight from NYC -> Duesseldorf -> Abu Dhabi -> Jaipur 

All of these flights (& many more) will take you to Jaipur from NYC no matter which flight or route you have boarded. There is no point in fighting over which flight/route is the best, the only best route is the one that you feel the most comfortable with.

That is just how religions work, all of them teach you humanity, no matter who said it or what that religion or its followers are called.

"सच तो सच है, चाहे किसने कहा हो" Kanhaiya Lal ji Lodha.

Micchami Dukkadam : a phrase often misused?

मिछ्छामि दुक्कड़म, प्राकृत भाषा का वाक्य है। (original Jain scriptures are written in Prakrit language, not Sanskrit) 

प्राकृत से अंग्रेज़ी में अनुवाद करने पर मूल अर्थ आता है, 'may all the evil that has been done be fruitless.' while, according to the Hindi translation pratikaman book, it is 'आत्मा को पापकर्म से अलग करना'

Micchami Dukkadam does not mean (at least literally), 'I seek your forgiveness & I forgive you.' which is what a lot of people think it means when they say it on Samvatsari or otherwise.

Hence, IMO it makes sense to say Micchami Dukkadam after १८ पाप स्थान, अविनय अशातना etc., even in case of seeking मुक्ति from previous karma bandhan of hurting someone, but not in place of seeking forgiveness & forgiving itself.

Reference : Wikipedia for the literal meaning

What made me think about it?

Messages of 'Micchami Dukkadam' in place of khamatkhamna. 

Edit 1 : I should ask Maharajsa/Dadi the meaning of मिछ्छामि दुक्कड़म  tomorrow & update this post.

Edit 2 : this is still under research, your thoughts & opinions on the matter are welcome. Please contribute the same in the comments below, & I will update the post with the relevant thoughts & ideas.

Wisdom from a teenager : Perspectives & Anekantvada

This is a (long awaited) guest post written by Kruti (www.KrutiMunot.com)

She presents a different perspective or rather, maybe an analogy between science & religion wrt my last post, What if our understanding of the universe is like the three blind men & an elephant.

Kruti writes

I came across a slightly different version of The Blind Men and the Elephant while reading something about Jainism. Anekantavada, or multiplicity of perspectives. 

Each of the blind men was right and wrong at the same time. He was right from his point of view- well, the leg of the elephant was like a pillar, wasn't it? But the elephant, in all, was not, so he was wrong from the perspective of somebody who had seen the elephant in its entirety. The same applies to people, to peoples' decisions...

Similarly, one of Jainism's key principles is the multiplicity of viewpoints. No human can independently proclaim that s/he knows the absolute truth; everything is relative. Be it good or bad, ugly or beautiful, it is the perspective that matters. Today, something that seems correct to me might seem terribly wrong to you tomorrow. Who judges what the truth is? We don't know, we perhaps never will. Maybe the next time we think someone is doing something unlikable, we could put ourselves in their shoes and try to reason it out.

PS: This is a little off-track from Sambhav bhaiyya's post, but the thought just came to my mind! Yet another example of varied perspectives, eh?

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Thank you Kruti