Worships and Rituals

Every day they say the prayer navakar mantra and it can be said at any time of the day. When they recite this prayer the person whose saying it bows in respect to liberated souls who are still in human form. All it pretty much is a simple gesture for deep respect for those more spiritually advanced. It also reminds people the ultimate goal to reach nirvana or moksha. They worship the jinas, arihants, and tirthankars, who have conquered their inner passions and attained divine consciousness and study the scriptures of these liberated people. The main purpose of prayer and worship is to break the barriers of the worldly attachments and desires, so as to assist in the liberation of the soul. Before they pray they cleanse their bodies by washing themselves and the clothes are very clean and simple. There are also two types of prayers, dravya puja which is offerings and material objects, and bhav puja which is deep feeling and meditation (Malaiya). They take their prayers very seriously.

            One of the most important festivals for Jains is the Paryushana. Its origins were the monks stayed in one place the whole entire rainy season. In fact Paryushana literally means, “Staying of monks in one place”. Most people pronounce it “chaturmaasa” because the rainy season is about four months. But for the average folks it only lasts about seventy days. It’s kind of like a season so they have festivals within it. Digambaras have the festivals for 10 days, and the svetambara have it for eight days. They have several special little traditions that they do.Pratikarmana is the renewal meditation, and it means turning back. It is a form of meditation that one reflects on his/her own spiritual journey and renews their faith. Then they really focus on their ten components (Malaiya), which is like Christianity’s Ten Commandments. The ten components are forbearance, gentleness, uprightness, purity, truth, restraint, austerity, renunciation, lack of possession, and chastity. And at the end of the festival they request forgiveness (Malaiya). They still have their morals of what you can and can not do.