Māna, and of conceit there are eight forms:[1] pride of caste, of family, of strength, of form, of wealth, of reputation, of learning, and last but not least, the pride of being a landed proprietor.
viii. Māyā.A great deal of confusion has arisen over the word Māyā, which the Jaina use to denote the eighth sin. The Vedāntists of course use the word to mean illusion, and a smattering of their philosophy is now so common, that many people loosely read Vedāntism into all Indian philosophy and suppose māyā invariably to have this meaning. The Jaina, however, consider themselves to be nearer to the Sāṅkhya than the Vedanta school of philosophy, and their properly instructed[2] teachers declare that the word generally means intrigue, cheating, attachment, ignorance, wealth, and only occasionally illusion. In the Jaina scriptures it usually connotes intrigue or cheating.
A commercial people are naturally prone to this sin, but the sanction it carries with it is very heavy—a man who cheats in this life may be born a woman in the next! Not only commercial but religious cheating may involve this penalty, as the case of Mallinātha, the nineteenth Tīrthaṅkara shows. In a previous life he and five friends delighted to perform their religious duties together, and all six fasted and meditated with the utmost regularity and circumspection. Gradually, however, Mallinātha began to long to outdo
- ↑ Jaina children are taught to remember these different sorts of conceit in little rhymes much like those of Jane Taylor’s which we children of a Western growth learnt in our childhood. Legends too are told showing the result of each of the eight kinds of conceit. As an example of the evil results brought about by pride, hear the sad story of Mariċī, the son of Bharata, King of India. Bharata was the son of Ṛiṣabhadeva, the first Tīrthaṅkara, and it was revealed to him that his son should become a Tīrthaṅkara in a future life. Overhearing this, Mariċī became very conceited and danced and jumped with joy. As a consequence of showing too much emotion a fetter (ṭāṅkuṁ) was formed, and this bound Mariċī to become a beggar in his next incarnation, though nothing of course could prevent his eventually becoming a Tīrthaṅkara, which he did as Mahāvīra.
- ↑ It is a common complaint amongst the Jaina that so many of their gurus are extraordinarily ignorant of their own religion.
