Six Essential Duties of Votary
(See the earlier section on the stage of Househ old ership)
An individual is called the best of the votaries who is engaged in six daily duties of
| (i) Worship | (ii) Veneration of Preceptors |
| (iii) Self-study | (iv) Restraint |
| (v) Austerity | (vi)Donation |
who has the best of the lineages / family.
He is released from the sinful effects of six types of domestic violence like
| (i) cooking in earthen oven | (ii) crushing in pits |
| (iii) grinding in stone mills | (iv) brooming with broomstricks and water-drawing |
| (v) domestic violence | (vi) earning livelihood |
(1) Worship
The person reduces the time for his salvation who gets Bimba-phala-like (small) altar constructed and gets a proper sized or even a barley-sized image seated on it through the consecretion procedure. A votary should offer worship to the Jinas facing east or north direction and with a Tilaka (a red or yellow mark of saffron on his forehead) on his head.
A votary should anoint the Lord Jina (image) with pure water, cane juice, ghee, milk, curd, mango juice, medicinal juice and kalka powder (mixture of medicinal substances like Lodhra etc.) etc. with devotional disposition.
It should be kept in mind that one should not perform the duties of worship, donation, chanting mantra repetitively, sacrificial rites and self-study with fragmented, dirty, old and tom clothes. One does not acquire the sacredness by worshipping with these types of clothes.
Q. There is the possibility of sins by offering animate substances like flowers, incense, fmits etc. in the worship of the Jinas.
A. The Jina-worship has the potency of destroying sinful karmas earned even during innumerable births. Will the smaller amount of sins earned the process of the during worship not be destroyed ? It will definitely be so. Of course, it is necessary that one should act carefully in every activity.
IJmāsvāmi has stated that the sins are earned in domestic and occupational violence for bringing up the family and enjoying consummables and non-consummables. But the violence occurring in the religious activities like worship and donations etc.
Does not earn bonding of Vasunandi has also stated that a person earns sacredness equivalent to the acquirement of the position of a Tīrthankara by constmcting even a temple of the size of a leaf of a corriander plant and places a Jina image of the size of mustard seed in it.
How, then, one can describe the total sacred effects earned by the person who gets the temple with large circumference and large entrance door etc. constmcted with devotion.
While worshiping the Jinas, the flow of stream of water before them causes the cleansing of the dirt of sins. The anointment of sandalwood paste causes the enriched fortunes. The worship of Jinas through the whole rice grains (Akṣatas) leads to the position of Cakravartī who owns nine kinds of treasures and fourteen kinds of gems.
The worshipper of Jinas with flowers (Puṣpas) earns a beautiful face like the lotus and a body with smell of flower garlands. He becomes like a cupidistic deity. The offerings of Naivedya (edibles) during worship leads the worshipper to earn strong, shining, fiery and most beautiful body.
The worshipper offering burning lamps during worship earns omniscience which is like a shining lamp which illuminates the secrets of all the reals and realities like the living being etc. He becomes omniscient in due course.
The worshipper offering incense during worship earns the world-wide fame and glory. The worshipper offering fruits during worship earns the supreme fruit of salvation in due course. The person who donates the bell for the Jina temple, takes birth in the empyrean planes which are buzzing with sweet sounds of bells. The person offering metallic umbrella (parasol or Chatra) for the temple enjoys the kingdom of the world solitarily.
The person offering Camara to the temple earns the wavering of Camaras for himself.
The annointing of Jinas by water etc. earns his own anointing by the empyreans by the water of Kṣīra-Sāgara (Milky ocean) on the Mem mountain. The donation of victory flags (Vijaya dhvaja) to the temple leads one to become Cakravartī winning over all the six parts of the world.
What else to state about the Jina worship ? It leads to all types of physical prosperity and even to the salvation in due course. Thus, ends the description of the essential duty of Jina worship of the votary.
(2)Veneration of Preceptors
One should always offer veneration and service to the preceptors for
- (i) acquirement of cherished objects and objectives,
- (ii) removal of the darkness of doubt regarding the worldly realities,
- (iii) acquirement of happiness in the other worlds after rebirth.
Whatever be the category of human beings-low, medium or best, they are not called as human beings without being taught by the preceptors. Hence, every person should always serve the best of the teachers. The devotion or service of teachers is a form of restraint.37 The observance of this restraint:
- (i)leads away from the deep ocean of the weary world.
- (ii)leads to the destmction of eight karmas, and
- (iii)leads to the termination of worldly cycles of birth and death.
(3)Self-study or Scriptural Study
The self-study is instrumental in acquiring true knowledge for the liberatable beings.
It has five varieties as per Tattvārtha Sūtra :
| (i)Reading and teaching (Vācanā) | (ii)Questioning (Pṛcchanā) |
| (iii)Reflection (Anuprekṣā) | (iv)Repetition and Learning by rote or memorise (Amnāya) |
| (v)Sermonising the religion (Dharmopadeṡa) |
(4)Restraint
The restraint is defined as the practice of control over the senses and mind alongwith an attitude of compassion towards all the living beings.
It has two varieties :
- (i)Restraint of the senses & mind (Indriya Samyama)
- (ii)Restraint of the sentient or embodied beings (Prāṇi Samyama)
The renunciation of enjoying objects of five senses and control over mind is called the restraint of the senses. The observation of compassion towards six-fold living beings – five kinds of non-mobile beings (one sensed souls) and mobile-bodied beings (more than one sensed souls) is called the restraint of the sentient.
(5)Austerities
The undertaking of penances to shed the karmas off is known as ‘austerities’ (Tapa).
It has two varieties :
| (i) External | (ii)Internal |
The external austerities have six varieties :
(i)Anaṡana (Fasting): Not to eat & drink anything that day.
(ii)Avamaudarya (Under-eating): To eat little less than the hunger.
(iii)Vrataparisankhyāna (Mental Vow for Accepting Food): Taking a mental vow to accept food from a householder, only if a certain condition is fulfilled.
(iv)Rasaparityaga (Renunciation of Taste): Restriction on intake of one or all kinds of six tastes of foods like ghee, milk etc.
(v)Vivikta Sayyāsana (Segregated Sleeping and Seating): To sit and sleep in a lonely place or by the side of the preceptor or saint.
(vi)Kāya-kleṡa (Physical Mortification) : Meditation with some postures like cock- posture, lotus-posture, standing posture and detachmental postures etc.
The internal austerities have also six varieties :
(i)Prāyaṡcitta (Penitence, Expiation, Atonement): It is getting award of disciplinary action due to transgressions / violations in the avowed vows.
(ii)Vinaya (Reverence): Offering of reverence to those who follow the path of Righteousness (Samyaktva).
(iii)Vaiyā-vṛtya (Pious Respectful Service to the Saints): Offering selfless service of varied nature to the religious preceptors, saints and avowed persons.
(iv)Svādhyāya (Self-study): Studying and teaching of sacred texts.
(v)Vyutsarga (Renunciation): Abandoning the internal and external possessions which are the causes of sinful activities.
(vi)Dhyāna (Meditation): Undertaking various kinds of stages of meditation like meditation on specified objects, incantations, form or formless entity etc.
Though these austerities are prominently undertaken by the saints, but they should also be partially undertaken by the votaries as per their capacity.
(6)Donation or Philanthropy
Donation is defined as to renounce the wealth or property for the benefit of the self or others.
There are four varieties of donation :
- (i)Donation of foods (Ahāra-dāna)
- (ii)Donation of books etc. for learning. (Jnāna-dāna)
- (iii) Donation of medicines / medical aid (Auṣadha-dana) and
- (iv)Donation for security for fearlessness of the living beings (Abhaya-dāna).
The best form of donation is the four-fold donation to the most worthy people.
Thus, the votary who follows all these six essential duties every day with proper devotion, is released from the six types of domestic or occupational sins during
| (a) cooking | (b) crushing |
| (c) grinding | (d) home-cleaning and water-drawing |
| (e) other household activities | (f) earning livelihood |
The above description of six essential duties follows IJmāsvami Ṡrāvakācāra. Acārya Kundakunda has stated in his Rayaṇa-Sāra38 that the votary has two main duties :
- (i)Four-fold donation to the worthy people, and
- (ii)Daily worship of true diety, scriptures and preceptors.
Nobody can be a Jaina votary unless he follows these two duties.
Similarly, the Jaina saints have two main duties :
| (a) Meditation | (b) Studies |
Nobody can be a good Jaina saints without these duties.
The Jina worship results in the respectability of the votary in all the three worlds. The donation to the worthy results in enjoyment of all kinds of the best pleasures in all the three worlds. The votary is called gracious (Dhanya) by donation of foods only.
He acquires the five wonderful things and becomes respected by the empyreans.
One should offer to the naked saint. There is no necessity for the examination of his worthy-ness or otherwise.
The Jinas have sermonised that the liberatable votary, who takes the food remaining after its offer to the saints, acquires the best pleasures of the world and gradually attains salvation.
Mokṣa Pāhuda states that there is the Jina commandment that the saints may have vigilant virtuous meditation in the fifth spoke of the devolution epoch of this Bharata region. Whosoever does not agree to this, is an ignorant or wrong-faithed one.
Even today, there are saints purified by observing the path of Righteousness. They can attain the position of the Ford of empyreans and may even acquire the position of the initiator empyreans (Taukāntika). They may attain salvation after rebirth from this position. In other words, they may attain salvation in a single rebirth.
While dealing with the fifth spiritual stage, Bhāvasangraha of Devasena43 has described the educative vow of equanimity that it involves
- (1) Eulogisation of the Jinas thrice a day,
- (2)Undertaking fasting during holy days,
- (3) Donation to saints & avowed persons and
- (4) Undertaking the ritual of holy death towards the end of life.
While characterising the model stage of vows, Bāmadeva”has described in his Bhāvasangraha the process of observing the first educative vow of equanimity in the following way :
The votary should practice equanimity thrice a day daily after the Jina worship because no equanimity activity could be there without it.45 It is described as below:
“The votary should observe all the morning duties like going to toilet, tooth washing (Acamana) etc. after getting up in the early hours.
He should undertake three types of bath successively :
- (1) bathing by pure (cloth-filtered) water,
- (2) chanting of incantations – i.e. bathing with mantra – chants, and
- (3) bathing in-vow i.e. resolving to undertake the vows.
He should, then, wear clean and washed clothes, and, then, go to the temple and enter into it with the word ‘Nih-sahī’ (May my sins be off or let the deities in the temple be away so that I may enter in). He should eulogise the Jinas after getting rid of passions. Afterwards, he should, observe Sakalikarana (initial religious process) again with proper seat.
He should, then, clean and wash the vessels and materials to be used in the worshiping process. This should be followed by anointing the Jina image with five sacred solutions (Pancāmṛtas) as described in the texts.
He should, then, offer worship to the Jinas with eightfold materials followed by a valuable composite offering (Arghya). It should be followed by pouring a thin stream of water with peace-recital (Ṡānti pātha) and throw of flowers (Puṣpān jali j all-around.
During the process of worship, the votary should offer it with eight-fold materials, followed by pouring of thin stream of water with peace recital and throw of flowers all around.46 This is the sign of expression of all-round welfare in the world. This procedure is prescribed in the religious texts.
After this, the votary may follow this procedure twice or thrice as per his interest. He should, then, repeat the Panca Namaskāra Mantra (Pentadic Bowings Titany) 108 times through 108 flowers or cloves. This may be followed by the worship of Siddhacakra Yantra etc.
One should, then, have mantra-repeat and recital of verses of devotion of Caityabhakti, Pancagurubhakti, Ṡāntibhakti & Samādhībhakti. In the end, the votary should recite the verses for the completion of the whole process. Afterwards, the votary should meditate on the pure self-soul with pleasant mind for a period varying from a reasonable time upto an Antarmuhurta of app.
This activity should be followed by worship of scriptures and preceptors. One should, then,
offer worship to the Jaina female saints, Loin-clothed votaries and other higher-staged votaries.
This is the process of practicing the equanimity by the votary.
Special Notes
The texts on rituals and consecrations have given the above method of daily worship ritual. It means that if the votary offers worship in this way, the practice of equanimity is also included in it. Hence, this is also termed as the method of practicing equanimity.
The book named ‘Sāmāyika’ (Equanimity) has elaborated this process through the chapters of ‘Pūjā Mukhavidhi’ and ‘Pūjā Antyāvidhi’ (The Method of Commencement and Conclusion of Pūjā).
In the process of offering worship by the votary, he should become dis-passionate and recite the Siddha-bhakti (Devotion to the Salvated). This should be followed by proper anointing by five sacred solutions and worship by the eight-fold substances terminating with devotional verses of Caityabhakti, Pancagurubhakti & Ṡāntibhakti. The same method is also found in ‘Pancāmṛtābhiṣeka Pātha’ (Lesson on Anointing by Five Sacred Solutions) of Acārya Pūjyapāda.
Description of Donation under the Third Educative Vow of Atithi-Samvibhāga
There are five components in the process of donation :
| (1) Donee or Recipient | (2) Donor |
| (3) Method of Donation | (4) Donative materials |
| (5) Fruition of Donation |
(1)Donee: There are three kinds of donees : maximal (Uttama), medial (Madhyama) and minimal (Jaghanya). The sky-clad saints – practitioners of the path of righteousness are the maximal donees. The medial donee is the votary practicing any stage of eleven model stages.
The minimal donee is the person with right faith but without vows. The persons devoid of righteousness but practicing the repetitive chants and austerity etc. are deficient-donees (Kupātra). The persons devoid of righteousness, good conduct and vows are unworthy-donees (Apātra).
(2)Qualities of Donors :There are seven qualities of donors .
| (a) right faith | (b) devotion |
| (c) satisfaction | (d) discrimination |
| (e) non-greediness | (f) forgiveness |
| (g) alround physical and spiritual strength |
(3)Method of Donation :The saints do not accept foods without nine-fold devotion (Navadhā bhakti). This involves
| (a) respectful procedural reception (paṛgāhana) | (b) offer of high seat |
| (c) washing of feet | (d) worshipping |
| (e) bowings | (f) purity of mind |
| (g) purity of speech | (h) purity of body |
| (i) statement about the purity of foods |
(4)Donative Materials : There are four kinds of donative materials.
| (a) foods | (b) medicines and medication |
| (c) scriptures or books | (d) security (houses etc.) |
(5)Fruition of Donation : The donation offered to the worthy donees by the right- faithed person yields heavens and even salvation in due course. The donation to deficient donees does not have any effect. The donation to unworthy-donees leads to heavy sufferings.
Characteristics of Persons Accepting the Vows of Householders’ Religion / Duties
The text of Sāgāra-dharmāmṛta mentions that a person is capable of accepting the householders religions
- (1)who earns his livelihood with honesty.
- (2)who offers respects to teachers and parents who possess good qualities.
- (3)who is worshipper of preceptors and saints.
- (4)who is true – speaking.
- (5)who is follower of three human exertions of religion, riches and desires with consistency (Purusārthas).
- (6)who undertakes meals and travels as per canonical tenets.
- (7)who has family, house and village for proper human exertions.
- (8)who has the company of noble people.
- (9)who is intelligent.
- (10)who is obliged to his benefactors.
- (11)who has control over his senses and sensuals.
- (12)who is the listener of religious texts.
- (13)who is kind, fearful of sins and full of reverence.
