Jaina nude saints
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Jain saints
Among Jains , there are two main sects- Shwethambara and Digambara. Shwethabars worship idols in pre-sainthood form whuile digambars worship god in the sainthood form.Nude saints are found in digambar jains community only.
symbol of great sacrifice
Sainthood itself, according to principles, is a symbol of sacrifice.Jaina saints follow strict principles.In digambar community, saints are of three catagories.
1. KSHULLAKA
2.AILLAKA, and
3. NIRGRANTHA
Kshullakas ware a safforn dhothi and asafforn colth is put across their bust.Aillaks ware only a piece in the waist just cover their penis, and nirgranthas are fully nude. This is always followed irrespective of seasonal changes.Female saints(nunns) are allowed only for the first stage and they are called Aryikas. Other two stages are not allowed for them.
Principles they follow
Principles followed by jaina nude saints are the following.
1 They wont take bath or brush their their teeth.They just wash their hands and feet and face after going for excretion. They just rub their teeth with finger after eating food. But they are not permitted to use brush and bathe , as we do. The reason is that, by that action, microbes and other small organisms on our body may die. And , a nirgrantha is to see that no creature dies by his behaviour.
2They take food only once a day.That too is a strict practice. They can not use dishes or dining table . They stand , stretch out their palms, and somebody put food into their open palms. That they test by perusing cleanly and, after confirming that no germ, nor any other dust is there in it, they eat it. If any such thing is found, they leave it there itself, and no food will be taken by them till next day.
3 If they hear any cry- of an animal, or a person in distress etc, while taking food , they give up their food then itself.
4.The food they take is simple and tasteless. They take rice, chapathis made of wheat, some curry( without salt), cocconut water.The food is just to get minimum sterngth required to maintain life activities.
5 They often take 'hunger vow'-i.e., no food for the day. Sometimes, this hunger vow continues for even eight days.The great nude saint of twentieth century, Acharya Shantisagarji maharaj, had a total period of twenty-six years of hunger in his life span of seventy years.
6 They should not use vehicles for movement.They have to walk by walking only.And they walk faster than us!As they are not supposed to use vehicles, they cannot be seen in foreign countries .They are seen only in India.
7 They do not use beds, sleeping bags, or bedsheets and rugs. They sleep on wooden planks or wooden cot, just with a mat on it.In sleep also they do not change their side,with the idea that some germ moving there might be get killed.
8 They do not speak at night.
9 They are not expected to involve themselves in any worldly matters.
10 Needless to say- they keep away from sex, not only phisically, but also mentally.
11 They keep only thse things with them -a pincha( a bundle of naturally fallen peacock feathers to brush away the dust while sitting), a kamandala( a wooden vessel to clean themselves after going for excretion) , shastras(religious books) and spects, if he is a person waring them.They do not keep money or any valuble things.
12 They are not supposed to get angry- even to one who blames them.
13 They dont even drink water after their regular food, i.e. once a day.
14 They remove their hairs on their face and head only with their hands/ They wont use tools for that.
Laughing at nude saints is easy. But how many of us can follow these things?
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Comments
Excellent photography selected:simple ex;planation of difficult technical terms. It explains jaina philosophy to common interested people without technical jargans.Thanks to the hubber Prasadjain.
Asceticsm is a major part of Indian religions.
not good coverage..no names of any maharaj sb.
Yes,Kosino,I haven,t mentioned any Saint's name here, as my aim is only to make readers acquainted with the vows followed by nude saints.As additional information, here I mention the names of some nude acharyas:
1 Acharya Shree 108 Shanthisagarji
2 Acharya Shree DeshaBhushanji maharaj
3 Acharya Shree Vidyanandaji Maharaj
4Acharya Shree Tarunsagarji Maharaj
5 Upadhaya Shree Nijananda sagarji Maharaj etc
Very intenst path
thank you for sharing
Is such practices still existing in India
Yes, there are. And, this is followed by only by Jain saints, and it is very difficult vow to practice
realy difficult and perhaps the most difficult of vows for saints of any religion or sect. what really worries is how do the cope with near zero temperatures during winters in India
NOt sure ..why they do it?
Mr. Sameer,
The philosophy behind this is- the body is not ours. The soul and body are different. I have no right to hide anything that is not mine.We should not be attached even to our body mentally. Even clothes are entanglements to this world. Because, there is need for caring for clothes when we wear them. Let anything happen to this body, i should withstand it.
Instead of laughing at the nudity, we must imagine how much self control and attitude of detachment should a person develop within himself, to take up that type of sainthood.
These are not guys. They are atleast middle-age crossed men. Youngsters taking this type of vow are much less.
Number of such jain nude saints may be within 2000 in the whole of India.
Just by being nude one cannot get salvation in jainism. Along with nudity, one should observe many other difficult principles. Some such principles are mentioned in the above article.
Hello Sir,
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I never laughed at them I think you got me wrong....I am someone who is researching every religion and respect evry individual and thats how came across this page...
Can you also tell if there anything in the Sacred Jaina Scriptures which support this belief...like Vedas in Hinduism and The Bible in Christianity and The QUran in Islam ...which the believers of these religions consider to be the WORD OF GOD(I am not sure if Jains believe in GOD or not)...
ALso ...please telll me whether this is the way of salvation for every Jain or only these saints.
Is the way of salvation for a non nude Jain is different ?
Dear Mr. Sameer,
thanks for your interest. I did not mean you are laughing at these saints. It is general public mentality.
The sacred jaina texts are-Dhavalas. Bharatiya Jnanapith has published it 16 volumes with Hindi translations. A vast introduction in English is also there.
Jains believe in god. but he is not the creater.
Jains believ that every living vreature can attain salvation after loosing its karmas.In this process, thay naturally teake-up nude saint hood. There is no seperate path of salvation for non-nude saints. Jainism opines that, when you go on developing the attitude of non-attachment towords everything in the world, nudity will be your natural choice , as you develop disinterest towords your own body.
For further information, you can write to my email: prasadjain@sancharnet.in
Please tell me do children think when they see naked panis covered with pubic hair.
Neither children, nor even women, who revere jain saints thinke anything bad when they see nude saints.The penis, or the public hair, anything, doesn,t looks awkward for them. Because they know beibg nude all the life is very difficult, and such saints will always be engasged in meditation, worship, or preaching good acts and deeds.
If we have sexy thoughts in our mind , then everything creates sexy asmbition in us- even a lifeless doll.
I am Jain myself, I want to know if they want to be nude, why they be in front of beautiful women, kids and ladies... why don't they just hide themselves in a jungle or something ??
Dear Mr. Siddharth,
please go through answers given above to-Mr.Sameer and Mr. Suresh.Perhaps i have already answered your question.
A Digambar Muni will not mind who is standing before him-whether a man or woman.That means, it does'nt create any feeling in him.Why should they hide themselves in bushes? Neither the devotee women feel any bad infront of them, nor the saint feel any dilemma.When you give up your temptation on the body and on the world, quite naturally body becomes an open thing.Nudity is the peak stage of self-detachment.
And,there are rules about the behaviour of digambar munis and women, which both should follow:
1. A woman should not go singly before a nude saint.
2 A digambar muni should not take food from a woman who is single in the house.
3 A woman should bow to a nude saint form a distance.
etc.
please write to me for clarification of any doubt about Jainism.Please Understand and practice.
Thanks prasadjain,
I am not a Jain but an Hindu. I got interested in by your reply.I myself want to spend my weekend with Digember Muni ,doing whatever they do morning to night , wearing no cloth.
is it possible.
Thanks Mr.Suresh, for your interest to know the things. Now a days people with a quest to know are fast decreasing in number.
If you want to see the behaviour of Jaina nude saints, now is the good chance.Many nude saints are prforming their 'Chaturmasa'( staying for four months in the rainy season in a single place)in different parts of Karnataka.Here is some information.
1 .Chakreshwari Jain Mahila Samaj building,South-end circle( Tee-num-shree circle) Bangalore.( near the Jayabagar library)
2. Jain temple,Chandraguptha road, Mysore(near Big clock tower)
3Mandya (In jain temple)
4 .Shravana Belagola. ( near Jain mutt)
usually, these saints give public preachings by 3 p.m. in the afternoon.Anybody can attend it. You can ask then questions after their preaching is over
Thanks
Thanks for the reply.
Please tell me some temple in karol bagh , delhi or gurgaon.
H.G.Leela says:
2 years ago
Do they follow such difficult codes?Hai, then they are really worthy of a great salute!