Yesterday was day 8 of Paryushan and Day 1 of Das Lakshan MahaParva. Most followers of Jain path do one or the other. A few years ago, I decided that I will do both. I think of one as the extension of the other. With one, I get structure and with the other, I get food for thought.
All Jains who follow the Paryushan Mahaparva do Samvatsari Pratikraman on this day.
My mom was raised in Shrimad Rajchandra faith. My mom did this, till she met Vasantiben. She now, follows the Digambar Jain faith. We followed my mom to all the temple activity, attending all the Shrimad bhakti and Swadhayaya.
With mom’s moving towards Digambar faith, I was confused, not knowing where my direction lay. I continued to study the works [ English translation] of Shrimad Rajchandra. Then, I came upon, a single sentence that gave me new direction. Shrimad Rajchandra was influenced by KundKund Acharya, a Digambar Acharya, who has experienced the teachings of Shimandar Swami, a living Tirthankar in a parallel universe! Shrimad, himself, had that experience as well!
I knew, I can’t follow Vasantiben, she speaks in Gujarati, she lives in India and I am still raising my 7 year old. I did not have a Guru. I was in search of my Guru. I was in the meantime place. I knew, I had to wait it out till I found my Guru.
Yesterday, is a short day for Sunnyvale School district. My DD came home at 1 pm. We picked up some chutney for my nephew from Saravana Bhavan. I had run out of all ingredients to make chutney at home and the plan was him to have dosa for lunch.
I ate some leftover idlis, and DH just ate out.
Dinner was dal batti and choorma, made by Abha. I like not cooking on Fridays, there is no dishwasher load, and I get time to do the laundry, and the weekends get freed up of essential tasks. We do not like eating out, so I end up getting food from Abha. I, usually order food from her which is Rajasthani/Marwadi cuisine, which I do not make myself and can’t be ordered from a restaurant.
It was a Pravachan free day. I thought I would be doing Samvatsari Pratikraman but ended up not doing it due to my monthly. DD was busy playing with nephew. After dinner, we did Swadhayaya through JCNC with Suketubhai, in English. He presented his perspective, DD sat with her cousin through this, both listening intently, her because he was and him, cause, it was interesting. I am hoping, we have more of this, so we can engage as a mother daughter duo.
Suketubhai explained that the householders follow the same 5 vratas as monks except with more flexibility in following them, and are called Anuvratas. The key to keeping your vows to examine your actions [yoga] of thoughts, words and deeds through the lens of each vow. Another perspective he shared, is to see Jainism and its philosophy, through the lens of Modernity if it has to survive future generations, critiquing it and showing how it can be tailored to the current needs.
The first day of Das Lakshan is Uttam Kshama or Supreme Forgiveness. I will touch upon this in my next blog.
With these closing thoughts….Jai Jinendra, Micchami Dukkadam and Khamatha Khammanaa.
Life, a daily exploration 