times they kneel (pañċāṅga) in front of idol or guru, and three times also they perform āvartana, i.e. make a circle before their faces from the right ear round to the left ear, holding a mouth-cloth or other piece of material in front of their mouths, and repeat the Tikkhutto, which may be translated:
'Making āvartana from the right ear to the left three times, I salute and bow, and I worship and adore you; you are a guru [or a god], you are auspicious, you do good, you are full of knowledge, so I serve you.'
If no image and no guru be there, the Jaina kneel towards the north-east (in which direction they believe the country of Mahāvideha, where certain Tīrthaṅkara live, to be situated) and then ask permission of the first of these, the Sīmandhara,[1] before repeating the Tikkhutto. During the forty-eight minutes they not only meditate but also read the scriptures, and at the end of the forty-eight minutes they repeat the particular pāṭha for closing Sāmāyika which refers to five special faults which may be committed during meditation, namely; failing to control thoughts; mind; actions; failing to observe the fixed time; and not repeating the pāṭha correctly.
x. Deśāvakāśika vrata.The tenth vow, Deśāvakāśika vrata, which resembles two that we have already discussed, is taken in the following words:
'I take the tenth vow called Deśāvakāśika. I will not go beyond the limit fixed by me in any of the four directions in mind or body, and will not open any of the five āśrava [channels] for sin. In the limit that I have fixed I will not enjoy any of the things which I have vowed not to enjoy. I will not transgress nor cause others to transgress it by mind, speech, or body; and I will not enjoy such things in mind, speech, or body for one day and night.'
In taking this vow a man promises for one particular day to still further contract the limits he has undertaken not to transgress, and he may bind himself during that day- ↑ Sīmandhara was the earliest Tīrthaṅkara from the land of Mahāvideha, just as Ṛiṣabhadeva was the first in Bhārata (India).
