Jain Samvaad - Prashnavali - Jina Idol

This is a new series in Jain Samvaad blogs, where I will try best to answer some simple questions of curious minds:

Q. If God is omnipresent, why go to temple? 

Indeed, one can achieve Moksha just by meditating on one's own soul! And there are several other paths which can lead our soul to Moksha. But there is special importance of worshiping a Jina Idol. Infact when done with full faith and devotion it can lead to significant reduction in misery, sorrow, karmic bonds and take our souls long way on the path of Niravana. 

Such is the importance of Jina Idol worship, that even the Lord(s) of Heaven(s) (Indras) regularly worship Jina Idol, despite the fact that they can directly go and worship humanly form of Present Tirthankar Bhagwan (Lord Simandhar Swami for example in today's age) residing at Mahavideh Kshetra.

So why? The truth is that the Jina Idol you see at temples is just not a statue made of stone. It isint. Only  a very powerful spiritual guru, can initiate and instill "prana" energy (Prana = Life Force or Spirit or Energy) of Tirthankar Bhagwan in the statue. This process is called as "Prana Prathistha". In the year 1530 AD, when Acharya Vidhyaman Suri did Prana Pratishtha of Lord Rishabhdev at Palitana Ji, such was his power and devotion, the statue took 7 breaths like a living man. By this process, Guru invites Siddha Tirthankar Bhagwan's own spirit or energy to reside in the statue for the benefit of mankind. 

No words can signify enough the importance of true reverence and devotion to Jina Idols.

Q. Is there any difference between worshiping in one temple and the other?

Indeed, huge difference - its like day and night! Every Jina Idol has different energy levels. Energy levels keep changing too. Offcourse at the time of Prana Pratistha, the guru instills prana, but the level of energy may depend on Guru's strength and several other conditions. 

Importantly, Jina Idol where millions of devotees worship with full devotion, witnesses manifold increase in energy levels. That is the reason why "Tirth Kshetras" hold so much importance. There is vast difference between worshiping Lord Parasnath's idol in a temple in any city vs at Nakodaji or at Shankeshwar or at Shikharji. 

There is a much deeper science here, different Idols have different energy levels, qualities, power sources etc; but for simplicity one can assume that with full devotion bowing down to Jina Idols at a Tirth Sthan, doing Pooja/Prakshaal there can uplift our souls, destroy innumerable karmic bonds and take us closer to realizing our true aim - the Moksha! 

Remember the two words - faith and devotion! Spiritual thinkers can write several books on just these words, such is there depth.

Q. If 24 Tirthankars who are residing at Siddhshila, have no attachment towards us, why worship?

All the 24 Tirthankar Bhagwans and the numerous other Siddha Bhagwans who have attained Moskha have destroyed all their karmic bonds-  they have no anger, hatred or love/attachment towards anyone. They are in a state of permanent bliss and have nothing to do with us, with this time cycle and souls trapped here. So why worship, right? Makes it even interesting!

Remember, there is again a huge difference between worshiping Jina and Jina Idol. The prana energy of Lord himself in the Jina Idol is for us, he (the Jina Idol in your temple) is our Lord, with full devotion whatever you seek you will get; his Energy is present here in the Idol for us! His own soul residing at SiddhShila, may not be for us, but his Idol and prana energy within is for us! Even while meditating, I would recommend if you are following the path of Jina Image concentration (there are again many ways to meditate - on own soul, our breathe, on mantra energy, on Jina Idol etc), its best to focus on Jina Idol you have full devotion on. 

A moment of true devotion itself (and true is a very heavy word) can destroy countless years of pain for our souls, destroy the karmic bonds and elevate our own energy or prana!

Another thing to remember here is that, if you worship Mahavir Swami, thinking of not his Idol but his own soul residing at Siddh Shila, then he may not have any attachment to anyone anymore; but there are so many other energy levels tied up with the sound (and vibration too) of his name, so many other "devic" powers that will come to you, for your help and to show you the right path always.

All these words like vibration, energy, mantras by itself are topics of much deeper discussion and knowledge; maybe we will revisit them in future blogs; but for now assume that full faith in Him is remedy to all our sorrows.

There are countless other questions in my curious mind, leaving you with a few of them here:

• How do we achieve Moksha? 

• Why so much importance of just one Mala, Samayik, Pooja, Darshan or Tyaag on our planet Earth? When Gautam Swami asked Mahavir Swami on the significance of just 1 Mala Jaap (108 times recitation) of Navkar Mantra, he said it can destroy your bad karmas to the extent of reduction of 19,63,267 palyopama years of Narki (Hell) life! 

• Do hellish beings have Avadhi Gyaan? Can they also take any form of body like heavenly beings?

• How does the science of "mantras" work?

• Whats the importance of human body and soul? 

• Why Moksha only through human form? Why cant the heavenly beings achieve Moksha?

• What is the concept behind energy, vibration, aura, soul and sub-conscious mind?

• Why keeping healthy body is a critical pillar in spiritual success?

• Are there atheists in heavenly beings too?

And please do keep sending question to me either personally or via comment section below. 

Jai Jinendra!

Comments

  1. Dr Mahendra Kumar JainSeptember 12, 2020 at 5:15 AM

    Very relevant information on Jain idols

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownSeptember 12, 2020 at 5:41 AM

    Very simple n easy way to attain Moksha.But the main thing is how to concentrate on meditation.Not a easy thing to concentrate while doing it? Thanks for the way you have explained.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousSeptember 12, 2020 at 9:15 AM

      Good churning of Jain philosophy

      Delete
  3. SumitOctober 3, 2020 at 5:15 AM

    There are 100 of thousands of videos or books published on Meditation. Everyone has their own version of how to practice meditation. Some are guided meditation, some are with calm sound like birds chirping, waterfall, waves etc. some are focused meditation like continue watch a point, same are breadth focused etc. A normal person gets confused and cant decide which one to be practiced. Do you have any thoughts on this?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SJOctober 13, 2020 at 9:56 AM

      Meditation in Jainism is called Kayotsarg, which literally means 'dismissing the body'. This is the real essence. It doesn't matter which form or type we practice, eventual goal is to be able to feel body is different from real self. While I am not the one to prescribe which form is better, as different individuals find different styles better, I can simple suggest trying out 1) Imaging Arihant Bhagwan on 3rd eye (Lord Simandhar Swami for eg) 2) Focusing on breath and imagining weightlessness or simply thinking oneself as a soul with no body and 3) Om Arham Namah can be used if practicing via Mantra meditation

      Like there are various paths leading a soul to Moksha (meditation being one of them), there are various ways of meditation leading us to same destination too. Lord Bahubali did Kayotsarg in standing pose for 1 year and attained Moksha.

      Delete

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