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One of the several ways of distinguishing the Vedic tradition from the heterodox religious systems is to characterise the former as oriented to sacrifice (yajna) and the latter as adhering to the path of asceticism (tapas). The heterodox tradition of sramanas ignores soma altogether, decries oblations to gods as fruitless, prohibits the eating of the so-called prasada and ridicules the offerings to the manes as futile. It rejects any notion of sacredness attached to food. The preferred mode of spiritual activity of the sramanas is tapas, which primarily consists of `heating` oneself, i.e. drying or thinning by reducing the intake of food and water. Tapas is a form of self-sacrifice which is said to bring about magical powers (rddhi) as well as achieve the spiritual goal of moksha. The Ajivikas, the most ancient among the sramanas, have claimed that their teacher Gosala had accumulated such heat (tejo-lesya) within himself by fasting and that he was able to scorch to death two Jain mendicants by throwing that power in their direction. He is also said to have died fasting without water with only a mango stone placed in his mouth for the purpose of salivating. Such a death was considered an extremely holy one and assured the highest heaven, if not moksha, for the departing soul. he Acharangasutra of the Jains narrates at length the severe asceticism of Mahavir, the last Jain Tirthankara. It is said that during the twelve years of his wandering life prior to his Enlightenment, Mahavir had lived only on three kinds of rough food - rice, pounded jujube and pulses. "Taking only these three, he sustained himself for eight months. Sometimes he ate only every sixth day or every eighth or every tenth or every twelfth Free of desires, he remained engrossed in meditation." According to later commentators, during these twelve years Mahavir took food on a total of 349 days only; at other times he fasted completely. The Jains are distinguished from the Brahmanical tradition by their rejection of the sacredness of food, of sacrificial meat, but also of ghee and, by extension, the rejection of the cow as sacred animal. They are distinguished from the Buddhists by their emphatic adherence to the practice of fasting as primary component of their spiritual path. Refraining from food for a period of time is not altogether unknown to the Brahmanical scriptures. The Manusmrti prescribes fasting as a form of expiation for certain transgressions especially by members of the Brahman caste. The Puranic literature is also full of stories like that of Visvamitra whose years of fasting were rendered futile by the caprices of gods jealous of the sage's superior Yogic powers. For the most part, these are legends and are not narrated to persuade the Hindu laity to imitate the sage by similar fasting. In the case of the Jains, however, fasting by their teacher Mahavir seems to have left an indelible mark on their consciousness, making it the most important feature of Jain tapas. This is demonstrated by the fact that a great many Jain laymen and women of all ages undertake fasting on a regular basis and consider it the singular mark by which their community can be distinguished from that of the Brahmanical society. Remarkable still is the most holy Jain practice of salekhana which permits certain advanced Jain mendicants to adopt total fasting as a legitimate way - in fact the only permissible way - of choosing death in the face of a terminal illness. The Jain emphasis on fasting invites an examination of their attitude to food and the reasons for their belief in the efficacy of fasting as a means of attaining moksha. Probably the Jain doctrine of the material (paudgalika) nature of karma capable of producing impure transformation (vibhava-parinama) of the soul (jiva) is at the root of this belief. It is well known that in Jainism karmic bondage is seen as an accumulation of an extremely subtle form of floating `dust` which clings to the soul when the latter is overcome, moistened as it were, by desire and other passions. These desires (present in all all soul from beginning less time) in their most subtle from are called samjnas, a term which may be tentatively translated as `instincts`. The Jain texts enumerate four such samjnas universally found in all forms of life including the vegetable kingdom. Craving for food (ahara-samjna) is the most primary of these instincts. No other being than the liberated soul is exempt from it. This desire for food sets up competition between one living being and another which gives rise to the second instinct, namely that of fear (bhaya-samjna). The consumption of food sets the third and probably the most virulent of the instincts in motion, the desire for sex (maithuna-samjna). the gratification of which produces further desire for food. This, in turn, produces a craving to accumulate things for future use, the instinct called parigraha-samjna, which invariably goads the soul towards volitional harmful acts (himsa) inspired by attachment (raga) and aversion (dvesa). The Jains therefore see the craving for food as the very root of all bondage, the uprooting of which is essential for the elimination of the other passions. The Jain texts dealing with the training of mendicants constantly encourage the cultivation of distaste for food and stipulate a variety of ways of overcoming the desire for flavors (rasa-parityaga). They begin with the characteristic Jain declaration that the desire for food is the prime cause for all forms of himsa since food cannot be consumed without destroying another life form. Because life cannot be maintained without consuming some amount of food, the Jain teachers have devise various means of minimising this himsa for their mendicants who have assumed the vow of total non-violence (ahimsa-mahavrata). In the Jain classification of beings, souls endowed with all five senses (pancendriyajiva) occupy the highest position, while the vegetable life, endowed with only one sense, namely that of touch is placed at the bottom of the list. Beings with two or more senses must not be willfully violated even by a layperson because their organisms (muscle, blood, bones, etc.) are similar to that of human beings. Thus all forms of animal flesh, including foul and fish, are totally unacceptable for a pious Jain who must depend on a vegetarian diet, with only dairy products as an exception to the rule (since it is believed that removal of milk does not hurt the animal). The list of prohibited food (abhaksya) extends even to certain fruits and vegetables, especially the five kinds of figs (udumbara), fruits with many seeds (bahubija) and a variety of plants called anantakayas, which are thought to be inhabited not by individual souls but by and infinite number of living organisms. These anantakayas include as many as thirty-two varieties of food like turmeric, ginger, garlic, bamboo, radishes, beetroots and carrots. The Jains extend their scruples against destroying ekendriyas in unstrained water (agalita-jala) and a mendicant may drink only boiled water which has been rendered free of al forms of subtle life. Further restrictions apply to the time when permitted food may be consumed. Advanced laypeople as well as mendicants as a rule observe the vow of not partaking of any food or water after sunset (ratri-bhojana-tyaga-vrata) and the Digambara mendicants are restricted to a single meal (including water) a day. On certain holy days, such as the eighth and the fifteenth of each lunar month, many laypeople undertake fasts called anasana `not eating` or upavasa. At least once a year all Jains observe a communal fast and dedicate that day for begging forgiveness (ksampana) of all begins, including those ekendriyas whose lives they destroyed in the act of eating. As for mendicants, who must constantly engage in austerities, the Jain texts prescribe a variety of tapas: giving up stimulating dishes (rasa-parityaga), reducing the diet to a few morsels (avamaudaraya) and fasting for an entire day (anasana). Jain fasts, whether practiced by mendicants or laypeople, must be distinguished from the fasts kept by the followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Fasting in these communities is, for the most part, restricted to daytime only; often food is freely consumed after sunset. Even the followers of various Brahmanical religious sects allow eating fruits or some form of uncooked food - preferably at night - on their fasting days. The Jain fast lasts from sunrise to sunrise and is total; only boiled water in limited quantities may be consumed and that too only during daytime. An extraordinary feature of the Jain fast - not much discussed in the books but tacitly observed - is that all sexual contact between couples is forbidden for the duration of the fast, even if only the wife or the husband has refrained form food. although the vow of celibacy (brahma-carya) does not demand the vow for fasting, the Jains seem to perceive the latter incomplete without the former. This demonstrates the unique Jain belief that the sex instinct (maithuna-samja) is inseparable from the craving for food and cannot be overcome without controlling the desire for the latter. Fasting for a day only is considered a child's play among the Jain laity. A great many Jain laypeople, especially women during the sacred week called the paryusana-parva in the rainy season (chaturmasa) undertake longer periods of fastings for three to eight days. The formal conclusion of a fast is called parana and takes place long after sunrise, with a sip of boiled water, usually after an offering of food is made to a Jain monk or nun visiting the household for collecting alms. The paranas, especially after longer periods of fasting, are occasions for joyous celebrations by the relatives and friends of the person who has completed the vow faultlessly and cheerfully. Along with the fellow members of the community they gather to feed such a person with spoonfuls of boiled water or fruit juice. In the majority of cases these fasts are undertaken by women, often newly wedded brides taking the lead and proving their zeal to their new relatives. The participating community shows in this manner its delight in the spiritual progress made by one of its own and also earns merit by the act of giving food to so worthy a person. Professor Padmanabh Jaini is a prolific writer and scholar on Jainism, based in San Francisco, California. The above article was extracted from `Collected Papers on Jain Studies`, by Padmanabh S. Jani, Motilal Barnasidass Publishers, 2000. ---------------------------------------------
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