This is Part 5 of our in-depth series on the teachings of Swami Prakashanand Saraswati. In this section, Swamiji enlightens up with more information about the Buddhist and Jain traditions, and how they are covered in the teachings of the Bhagawad Gita. This entire series will explore the profound wisdom behind divine love, devotion, and the path to everlasting peace found in devotion to Krishn, for spiritual seekers desiring to cultivate a deeper connection with the divine.
Speech 5 by Swami Prakashanand Saraswati:
The blessed souls: Yesterday we learned about Bauddh (Buddhist) religion, and I explained that the whole of Bauddh religion is also in our Gita in two verses, but Gita says that that is not enough for God realization. You have to come to God for absolute peace.
We will learn today about Jain dharm. Jain dharm was also established around 2,500 years ago, around the same time as Bauddh dharm was there in India. It started in India, mostly in India, not much out of India. It was established by Mahavir Swami, the last Tirthankar in their lines. They have 24 Tirthankar. Tirthankar means saints in succession. The last one was Mahavir Swami. They have their scriptures called the Agamas Those Agamas are the guideline of Jain dharm – they talk of liberation, moksh. Like Bauddh, they talk of nirvan, also means moksh. Jain talk of moksh, also means moksh – liberation.
So moksh for Jain dharm is something a little different. They don’t think the absolute is only void. They think the absolute is blissful. Some kind of bliss, not just void, not just absolute nothingness. So entering into a bliss state, that’s their moksh. And how to enter, or what is causing the interference? They say karm is the cause; actions. They also explain that souls are of three kinds, but they are all eternal souls. All souls are eternal, but there are three kinds: the ones who are in the process of evolution, the others who are just dormant, not in the process of evolution, and the third kind, liberated souls. Means the liberated souls and the ones who are in the process of liberation and the others, and they are all uncountable. Nitya, buddh, mukt – we also have same philosophy, nitya soul, buddhya soul, mukt soul. So there’s not much difference in their philosophy and our philosophy according to soul. Karmas, see you have to remove all the layers of karm. There are many layers of karmas, many layers. Remove all the layers. But how to remove, that path is entirely different. And one more thing, in following that path, there are two kinds or two sects or two styles. And they are all, means renounced people, not family. Nigambas, shwaitamber. Means their monks – some monks wear white cloths, total white. And some do not wear any cloth, just a little loin cloth to just cover the familiar part of their body. The rest of the body is naked. Nigambas means the sky is the clad, nig amber. So there are two sects in that.
And what happens when soul leaves all the layers of karmas? Their soul becomes light. You see like something heavy becomes light, lighter, lighter, lighter, lighter, then it rises. Just like a very heavy gas settles down on the ground, but a light gas, helium gas, rises up in the sky. So, when a soul becomes very light of all the burdens – burdens are there, those karmas burdens – when burdens are released, soul becomes light, then rises by itself. How far does it go? At the top of the universe. So on the top of the universe, it stays in a solitary bliss. And it stays forever. So that’s their moksh, or liberation.
Their philosophy is very simple. They only talk of karmas and how karmas are created through your actions and thoughts. Any kind of action. They talk of two kinds of actions, good and bad. And both actions create karmas. And both are either intentional of nonintentional. Say for instance, you are walking on the ground, and you are killing some ants or small creatures. Unintentional killing of any sort also creates bad karmas. So how to avoid that? Don’t walk. Stay inside. Or if you walk, just have very soft brooms, and broom your path and then walk. These kind of practices are in their dharm. Means “ahiṃsa”, compassion to all the beings; nonviolence. That’s their main object, main stress of their devotion or practice. So both good and bad karmas, they are the cause of bondage. So eliminate all the bad karmas with good karmas. And then good karmas, you just become good and remain good. So, removing all the karmas is the only process they tell. And removing karmas, then the question is how to remove karmas, what to do, what not to do.
So in their religion, their philosophy is not that extensive as Bauddh religion. It is less extensive. But they have extensive style of ascetic discipline. So they have only three main practices ahiṃsa, a strict ascetic discipline, and religious performance. Three main practices. Religious performance means they have temple. So those who are monks and those who are not monks, those who are not monks, family people, they can go to temple, help the temple, worship in the temple, and those who are monks, they could live in the temple or live off in the jungle. But they have to observe all those religions ritual formalities as prescribed in their religion – mostly temple worship and temple formalities. Both have to follow, either nigambas or shwaitamber or others, family people. That is a must. Means worshipping those 24 Tirthankars as their masters.
In ascetic discipline, it’s a very strict ascetic discipline. About drinking water, oh sieve the water first, there could be some bacteria or anything, They should not get killed. Then drink water. Means totally non-ahimsa; means don’t kill their ahimsa. And as I explained before in Bauddh religion, mind is the cause. Desire is the cause. Also, desire is the cause of karmas, Jain also says. Desire. So eliminate desires. Eliminate desires, then eliminate karmas and be at peace.
Means concentrating your mind from all the desireable, nondesireable objects and things and beings. So not desiring for anything. And just killing all the desires. Nothing good, nothing bad. No attachment, no animosity from anything in the world or any being in the world. And for that they observe strict penance, just like they observe, just like is a cold weather, resist cold. Don’t wear anything. Hot weather, survive in hot weather. Try not to feel hot. Try not to feel cold. Somebody is cursing you, try not to feel abused or insulted. Somebody is praising you, try not to feel being praised. Means all the time, just avoiding all the goods and bads, that is their practice. That is their ascetic practice.
Then fasting. There are many kinds of fastings: 3-day fasting, 10-day fasting, two week fasting, one month fasting, six months fasting. Means just like suppose just taking water for 15 days or just having something, a little food, for one month. They have many kinds of fasting disciplines. So they are in detail in Jain dharm, all those fastings. They also have their fasting. So through fasting, they believe that you kill the desires of your mind.
Gita says (Sanskrit). Gita also tells that if you torture your body and don’t give it food, a time comes that some desires are eliminated. But again, they go deeper in your mind. They’re not eliminated, they go deep in your mind. Anyway, so all those ascetic strict discipline, fasting, avoiding all the goods and bads, concentrating within yourself, no desiring of good or bad, just like becoming still. And a strict non-violence, ahimsa. At every step, sometime you would have seen that some Jain monks, they put a little cloth on their mouth when they walk out. Why? The insects might go into your mouth and might get killed accidentally, so cover your mouth. These kind of things: brooming the pathway, putting cloth on your mouth, drinking water after sieving it, don’t eat anything after sunset, some insect might come and get killed in your soup in the night… You won’t know, so drink in daytime or eat in daytime – these kinds of things. And fastings. Don’t hurt any being in the world, small or large. So that is all Jain dharm.
Gita, you see, take one or two verse of Gita (Sanskrit). So Gita says in two verses (Sanskrit), these 3 are your enemies: Karm (means desire), krodh (means anger), lobh (means greed). Karm, krodh, lobh. These three are your enemies. Keep them away. A simple meaning of the second verse I said. And the first verse, ahimsa, same, compassion to all the beings, saktyam, try to be honest, akrodhay, never get excited or angry or irritated. (Sanskrit) Compassion to all the beings. Say always truth. Be ashamed if you are doing something wrong. Don’t talk too much. Achapalam (steadiness). So all these are qualities. So you see in these two verses, the whole Jain dharm is described in Gita. In these two verses. And ahimsa, the first word (Sanskrit). So in this way we see that the philosophy of Jain was not brought from somewhere else, it is there in Gita. But Gita further says these are (Sanskrit). These qualities are called daivi-sampat , means they are sattvic qualities. Sattvic. They are pious qualities to qualify you for receiving liberation. They qualify you. They cannot give liberation. Why? The reason is, there are two reasons.
Suppose you have removed karmas of the present. You are not doing any good or bad karmas, just you are a strict monk, a strict ascetic. But still you have past uncountable karmas. As Jain dharm says, soul is eternal. So how will you kill past, all those karmas? One thing. And unless you kill past karmas, you can’t be liberated. And the second thing, your soul (Sanskrit). Although jeev sanatan, jeev is eternal, but (Krishn says) “Soul is a part of My personality; is the part of Me. I am the soul of the soul. So how could soul be liberated without knowing Me?”
So there are two things. (Sanskrit) Those who worship Me, those wise people. So Gita says that “…karmas cannot be eliminated of past uncountable lives uncountable karmas, unless he receives My grace. And soul is a part of my Divinity. The soul has to come to me (Sanskrit).” Another knowledge. “Oh, I belong to Krishn?” Yes. “I belong to Him? So I must find Him. I must find Him”. So (Sanskrit) “…when a soul, when a person recognizes his own identity, that his identity is not just absolute identity; his identity is a part of the absolute, and that is Me. Then he worships Me.” Soul: “Oh, I belong to Him? I must go to Him.” Simple. “I belong to Him. I must go to Him.” So this is the higher knowledge.
So Jain dharm takes you up to a limit of again, mental purity. That’s it. Up to mental purity. Then Gita tells you after purity what to do; “Come to Krishn”. Simple. Someone might question that why doesn’t Jain or Bauddh show the total path to God? So the answer is that there is no answer for every why in the world. Why, why, why, why? They showed a path. Just like, why do they have primary schools in the world? Must be all universities starting from kindergarten up to the MA and PhD. So, you people say things just for the sake of saying.
You see, suppose somebody happened to purify his heart and mind according to Jain or Bauddh dharm; his heart is pure. Then God will organize such a situation. He’ll find a true master and proceed towards God realization. Because it’s all protected by God Himself, I told in the beginning. Dharm is protected by God Himself. Any pious soul, any pure soul following any religion, any true Divine religion I mean. Following any region, if he purifies his heart to a certain limit, then God takes care of that soul personally. So for that pure soul, something happens in his life that he finds a true new Divine master, and who guides him further how to enter into the real devotion to Godhead personality.
Anyway, so these Jain and Bauddh dharm, although their philosophies are not brought from somewhere else, they are also in our Vedic philosophy and Gita philosophy. But they are a part of that -just like one step. So, you have to reach God, say for instance, in many steps. So just a few steps are these religions. And further steps are in Gita. Again, to surrender to Krishn. So in this way we see that an actual sincere follower is very betrayed. And these, as I explained before, Jain and Bauddh dharm were also introduced by Saints, but their main intention was just to give a complete knowledge of how to become a true sanyasi or a true ascetic or a true monk or a true desirelessness. That’s it.
Then further ahead, Gita is there to take you up to Divine love consciousness of Divine standard. So these two religions, they don’t tell about God – they are called “nongodly” religions. Then there are other godly religions in India. That I’ll explain from tomorrow. Today we again do chanting, thinking of Radha Krishn close to you because They are the beloved of your soul, master of your soul, and the life of your soul.
In Summary: Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s teachings illuminate how the Jain and Buddhist religions are steps that can bring an aspirant toward heart purification, but they don’t teach about the path to God realization as shared in the Gita. In Part 6, Swamiji will delve into the “Godly” religions and provide spiritual insights that guide seekers toward true Divine realization. Stay tuned!