Why Are Rich Jains Becoming Monks? Recently, on January 11, pictures of the initiation ceremony of an eight-year-old girl Devasi were uploaded on Instagram, after which heavy criticism started coming from child activists and psychology. They said that such a small girl cannot take the decision of becoming a saint on her own.
Why Are Rich Jains Becoming Monks?
Table of Contents
She has definitely been influenced by her family or some relative. When we studied Devanshi’s Instagram, which has some 15k followers, we came to know that she was associated with Jain Monk since the age of 2.
History
Meaning basically from the time she learned to walk and talk, she was imbibing Jain principles. Now in Jainism, this early religious interaction becomes the reason for most child initiations.
Now as for further discussion, Jain Guru clearly says that by the age of eight everyone becomes mentally and physically ready for initiation.
That is why recently three generations of a Jain family living in Hong Kong, i.e. mother, daughter and grandmother, all three had taken initiation together. Now this is the thing to note.
That all these people usually belong to rich and highly educated families, some have diamond business and some are very high profile doctors or why not engineering.
Why do they give up luxury ?
Then the question definitely comes that why do they give up their luxurious life and get sucked into such a life in which instead of getting their hair cut, they are even ready to get every strand literally plugged.
- Religious influence
- Influence of jain guru
- Preaching of jain guru’s
Well, the first reason for this is the religious influence of the family, which we have seen how strong an impact it can have even in childhood. Apart from this, another big reason is the influence of Jain Guru.
See, just like the mode of worship in Hindu temples is Aarti, similarly the specialty of Jain temples is their religious preaching. Basically, there is a very important role in the Jain house. To organize satsang and preachings in Mandan in which they teach people manly that they should not use more resources than they need and should live a life of non-violence.
Now according to Jain media, in majority of the cases people decide to become a Sadhu after coming in contact with him or because of continuously attending his preachings.
Contribution of jain community ?
But understand that Jain population is not even 1% of India’s population, but since the beginning, this community has been ahead in the trading and business sector and that is why the founders of majority of leading businesses are also Jains. Today, 24% of the income tax is also contributed by Jain community. comes alone from
Needless to say, despite being a minority, Jain is among the wealthiest community of India and has already experienced all this material happiness. So again what happens that he gets ready to leave everything and become a monk. How does this Rich Jain decide to choose the life of a monk?
When a Jain comes in contact with his Guru, he becomes so inspired by his live and principal perspective that he finds his calling in the journey. Now this journey also starts with an initiation ceremony,
Start of the initiation journey
So first of all this person requests any Jain Guru and becomes his student. Then the individual taking this initiation has to follow the life style of a seeker, his work is to serve and self-study. That is, by understanding the teachings of Lord Mahavir and meditating, one gets disconnected from one’s normal life. This is a kind of training period.
Which usually lasts for 28 to 42 days in which the guru judges the conviction and will power of his students. Finally, when the guru is convinced about his student, he asks for permission from the student’s parents.
And the parents have to submit an official permission letter, only after this the rest of the process proceeds, after this the initiation starts, an official day is decided, on the day the basic appearance is made, it is officially transformed into a Sadhu or Sadhvi.
The final test ?
But one minute not before the final test, till the date of initiation, they are sent back to their respective places and it is seen whether these initiates go to their homes and get distracted by family love or comfort.
Well, after this finally comes Diksha. On this day, the initiates come to their pavilion fully dressed like a bride or a groom, they arrive completely enjoying and spending money, but this enjoyment is also not limited only to the initiation pavilion. Because here the official ceremony starts
The last hug ?
In which the parents of the initiate can visit him for the last time and treat him like their child for the last time, then after applying tilak on him like a warrior, they start discarding all the pieces of his jewelery one by one.
Basically this is their debt, meaning it is a symbol of leaving the worldly place forever. After this, the head of the initiate is shaved and he is allowed to take bath for the last time. Then this initiate again enters the pavilion but like a totally changed version, neither is his attire nor his name, he chants one last mantra with the Guru and after this the initiate himself becomes a sadhu.
And that is why the Guru also changes his old name and from this day onwards his house, his parents all become strangers to this Sadhu, yes complete stranger. In fact, this event is such a big event for the Jain community that thousands of people come just to attend this ceremony and a very interesting thing is that at the end of the ceremony, the old things of the newly transformed sadhu are auctioned .
That too at a very high price. In the auction held after the initiation ceremony of 14 year old Kaushik Rathore, up to Rs 50 lakhs were generated. Apart from this, the community also donates heavy leads in these ceremonies.
Sadhu lifestyle
Talking about their sadhu lifestyle, they are not allowed to take bath, they can clean themselves only with wet cloth or any sponge and they should have only one unstitched or semi stitched cloth to wear and that too a donated new cloth. Can’t buy and wear it yourself
And all this is applicable only for Pitambar Jain because the second set of Jainism is Digambar Jain who also give up clothes, that is why girls in this set cannot become Sadhvis. Well apart from this, Jain Sadhus cannot cut their hair.
Because every 6 months their hair is plucked out JUST TO CHECK THEIR DIFFERENCE TO PAIN AND THEIR TOLERANCE TO PAIN.
These sadhus are also given a woolen object or Rajoran which they can sit on after wiping the ground, because in Jainism, violence and hurting any micro-organism is not allowed and that is why they do not even eat their own food. making
The process of bhiksha ?
Rather, they go to other Jain houses and ask for only as much as they can fit in just one fist or can eat in just one bite, so that family should not have to cook the food again. And of course it must be known that they cannot use any vehicle to reach these houses or to go anywhere in general.
To protect the bugs that walk on the ground from dying, they cannot wear any footwear, not even a slipper. They have to walk barefoot. We know Jains believe they are very strong and are based on five manly principles.
So Jainism believes in rebirth. They believe that this is the only way to break the cycle of birth and death, BY BECOMING A MONK, for which they have to take these five vows.
The 5 vows
- Non voilence
- Truth
- Astiya
- Brahmcharya
- Aparigraha
The first vow is non-violence. Basically, Lord Mahavir, the founder of Jainism, said that every living being and plants have sensitivity, that is why we cannot hurt them, that is why Jains believe that every soul is like their own.
So next comes truth i.e. if you speak then speak the truth otherwise remain silent. It is believed in Jainism that if any person does not lie then he attains the fulfillment of his promise, meaning everything that comes out of his mouth proves to be true.
The next Vow is Asthiye meaning non steel. The purpose of this Vow is to make a monk a humble monk who can rise above his desires ego and not shy away from begging.
After this comes Brahmachari which you know is A VOW OF CELEBACY and the last vow is Aparigraha i.e. being totally disconnected from material things.
That is why Jain Sadhus cannot keep anything with themselves except donated clothes and bowls and that is why they become completely detached from the friends and family of their victims.
The most important thing here is that this entire transformation takes place with the permission of these Sadhu families.
Why Are Rich Jains Becoming Monks?