king, and in his next birth became an ascetic and attained mokṣa.
viii. Vaċana puṇya.Merit is also won by speaking without hurting any one’s feelings, and so as to influence others towards religion and morality (Vaċana puṇya). Kṛiṣṇa, for instance, the favourite Hindu deity, when King of Dvārakā, once heard Neminātha preach. He felt that he himself could not face the hardships of a monk’s life, but he urged any of his subjects who could to receive initiation, and promised to look after their families. Some of the people thereupon became monks, and this brought Kṛiṣṇa[1] so much Vaċana puṇya that he is bound eventually to become a Tīrthaṅkara, though he has a lot of karma to work off first.
ix. Namaskāra puṇya.One may also obtain merit by reverent salutations (Namaskāra puṇya). The Jaina say that one first bows to religious men, then one gets to know them, next one decides to follow their example and by so doing one attains mokṣa. The Digambara and Śvetāmbara can obtain merit by bowing reverently to the images in their temples, but the Sthānakavāsī, having only gurus to bow to, show them double reverence and so have been accused of worshipping[2] their gurus, which they indignantly deny, pointing out that they make them no offerings of flowers, fruit, &c. It would be quite impossible to write down even the names of the legends told with the object of illustrating the great rewards gained by doing reverence. In fact the first step to mokṣa is said to be climbed by bowing. We have seen that the god Kṛiṣṇa is to be a Tīrthaṅkara, and the Jaina say that he will take his first step from Pātāla (a lower region), where he now is, towards this high future by doing reverence.
- ↑ We shall find constant examples of the influence Kṛiṣṇa worship has on the Jaina. Many of them read and love the Bhagavadgītā almost as much as the Hindus, though it is not one of their scriptures.
- ↑ They point out the following mistake in the Imperial Gazetteer of India (Oxford, 1907), vol. i, p. 417: ‘The Dhondiyas, who worship their gurus’, by which they complain that their feelings have been wounded.
