| A Jain Sadhu
keeps up an incessant cleansing process in his thoughts, so that his mind may attain a
state of Kaivalya (a sort of isolation or completeness through integration). That is the
final stage of Sadhana, a man can aspire for and through which lie can have absolute
Mukti. But, at the same time, Jainism does not merely insist on, and only evolve, a
Sramana order, but has successfully reared an order of Jain laymen who are thriving
businessmen and who have given liberally for the propagation of their faith. Ahimsa of Jain philosophy has to be taken in a broad sense. They do
not eat any kind of meat. Jain Siddhanta recognizes a sort of casteism by insisting on the
priesthood being confined to the Tribarna, namely, Brahmana; Kshatriya and Vaishya. For
understanding this ideology we have to look to the times when Jainism was born and
particularly when Mahavira Vardha- mana, the 24th and last Tirthanakara, propagated the
creed in different parts 9f India. At that time the Brahmanas were the power behind the
kings who were non- Brahmans. |
