Jainsquare – A Complete Portal on Jainism

What is ‘Dharm’? Well let me clear that the dharm being spoken about here is neither ‘religion’ nor the ‘dharm-dravya’ which is one of the 6 substances or dravyas. There are a lot of definitions of ‘Dharm’ in Jainism, but the ultimate and final reality to which all those definitions leads to is – “Vastu swabhavo iti dhammo”.This definition as said by Sri Bhagwan KundKund Acarya says the nature of a substance is its dharma. We are the substance ‘soul’, so let us consider what is dharm for us?

Everything has its own nature. The nature of candy is to be sweet. A thorn’s nature is to prick. Salt is salty, and a rose’s nature is to be fragrant. When you meditate, realize that everything is working in accordance with its own nature. The body, mind, and spirit are following their own dharma. Realize that there is no reason to blame or praise any form. See things as they are. When you see things in this undistorted way, you can decide for yourself what you want. When you know the nature of people, you know how to deal with them.

Soul’s nature is to be loving, compassionate, truthful, and uplifting.

Once a saint was staying near a river. He saw a scorpion fall in the water. Seeing that it would drown, he picked it up and put it on land. No sooner did he pick it up than the scorpion bit him. He felt the pain and covered his wound with a piece of cloth.

The scorpion went down to the river again and plunged in. Again it was drowning. “Silly scorpion,” thought the monk. Compassion moved him again. There happened to be a man nearby who was watching this scene. He went over to the saint and asked, “What are you doing? Don’t you have common sense? The scorpion bit you the first time, and still you let him bite you a second time?”

The monk smiled and said, “Even the scorpion at the moment of drowning is not ready to give up its nature to bite. How can I forget my nature of compassion? I can’t be less than the scorpion. I must be I. This is my nature. Everything has its own nature.”

This reflection brings you to your island of reality.When you live on that island, you know, “Though turbulence may come, I shall not fall down. Though the winds of temptation may come, I shall hold my own. All else is temporary. Reality is here.” With this experience, you don’t have bitterness or hatred for anyone. Praise and blame fall away from your life. You are careful about how you live in the world and about what you take into your life.

Under this reflection, one thinks about the constituent element of one’s body. It is made of impure things like blood, bones, flesh, etc. It also generates impure things like perspiration, urine, and stool.

Therefore emotional attachments to the body is useless.Every man is most deeply attached to his body. In fact all pleasures and pains are of our body. Our attachment to our family and our worldly possessions is in the ultimate analysis attachment to our body. But what is this body? If we give deeper thought to all these questions we find two important aspects of our body:

1. Without the existence of the spirit (soul) within it, it is nothing but a conglomeration of dirt and diseases.
2. Even with the existence of spirit within, it is constantly under the process of decay and deterioration.

To keep these aspects of the body constantly in mind is called Asuci Bhavana. The constant reminder of these aspects blunt our attachment to our body and keep us alive to the fact that self is something distinct and different from body, and the body can be best utilised not for enjoying the transitory objects of the world but for liberating the self from the shackles of karmas. This Bhavana is called ‘Asuci’ as it points out to the impure aspects of the body.

This is required to be done to mitigate our attachment to the body and not for cultivating hatred towards it, as misunderstood by some. All the roads of Sadhana – roads of self-realization – are requires to be traversed through body and it is this body which is the best vehicle to take us to the final destination. It is therefore, quite necessary to take its proper care and to keep it properly nourished, healthy and efficient. What is discounted here is indulgence in material objects of life to satisfy the indisciplined cravings of the body, so that it remains a fit and efficient vehicle to carry us safely in our spiritual journey.