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- Raksha Shah
What is it that has always absorbed the interest of the young and the old, the rich and the poor in a Jain temple, at all times, all places in one’s hometown or abroad? The Aangi, of course! What does the word ‘Aangi’ mean and what is its significance to the aspirant? What is the reason behind such fascination? Does it help an aspirant to rise spiritually? Many such questions crop up into our minds.
The word ‘Aang’ means ‘the body’, and decorating the body is ‘AANGI’. To prepare the Aangi is an art and even kids at times prepare stunning Aangis. One may wonder, can an idol be an ideal mode of showing one’s devotion to the Almighty? Several have criticized the worship of the inanimate lifeless icons- be they in the form of an idol, signs and symbols, the Yantras or the Mantras.
Man's search for God has resulted in many a pathways, each embedded with a range of rituals. A true aspirant, who desires to progress spiritually, opts for one of the paths. Though some prefer the Gyana yoga or the path of wisdom, many a men prefer the Bhakti yoga- the path of devotion. Two types of bhakti yogas are popular amongst the Murtipujak sect of the Jains and the Hindus viz: the bhava-pooja and the dravya-pooja. The dravya –pooja or saguna yoga involves worship of the-Roopi or material form. The nirguna bhakti nevertheless is worship of the formless-Aroopi, for the same goal. Whilst the path of the nirguna bhakti is very hard and arduous, most find the Roopi worship more comfortable and satisfactory .
Worship of the icons fills the heart of the aspirant with vatsalya-bhava that makes the path of worship easy, safe and peaceful. Ask the devotees why they spend several hours decorating the idols with flowers and colored powders, jeweled crowns and the Kalgi placed atop the Jina images' heads? The answer is, “ I simply love to devote my time to perform the AANGI, for it is my way of expressing my feelings towards the Tirthankara who is all-adorable, the possessor of ‘n’ number of attributes’’, says Jigish. “Why do you love to decorate the idol?” I asked Maneklalbhai, a seventy-four year old, ardent devotee. Said he, “I prefer the Bhakti-yoga instead of Meditation and Svadhyay.”
Some scholars have compared rituals of religion to the husk of a seed that preserves its life and makes it germinate, for mere philosophy without rituals in religion at times, becomes dry and insignificant, and a religion bereft of rites and rituals would become insipid It is truly said that it is not difficult to push a boat in the water; but how hard would it be to drag the same boat on land? The presence of the aqueous medium enables the smooth traversal of the boat without exertion. Likewise bhakti, helps to cross the ocean of life without hurdles. Rituals thus play a vital role in molding our spiritual lives and are regarded as the Nectar, which gives immediate fulfillment and elation to the mind. It is only when they are devoid of faith, that they become mechanical and lifeless and meet with criticism.
Whereas both the Sky-clad Digambaras and the Murtipujak Shvetambaras worship the Jina idols, both of them differ in their attitudes towards ornamentation of Jina images and preparing the Aangi. Both, the Digambar as well as the Shvetambar images are either made of stone, Panch-dhatu [metals] etc. but, while the Digambar images are plain, simple, bare unpainted and unadorned, the Shvetambar idols have an altogether different look, with eyes painted with different colors or glass eyes affixed permanently. Several other images have permanent forehead ornaments of gold, silver, and precious stones. After the Ashtaprakari Pooja is done with, the laity enjoys decorating the images with bits of precious colored stones, cotton, golden strings, gold and silver foils etc. to give it the real Royal gaze. On festivals and special occasions the images are a wonderful sight to behold - sparkling with the rare, scintillating brilliance of glitter and jewels, adorned with metal breastplates and the tilak.. What then is the difference in the attitudes of worship between the Digambars and the Murtipujaks? According to the Sky-clad worshippers- lack of ornamentation after the performance of Ashtaprakari Pooja characterizes the Jina as a sense-conquering, world-renouncing ascetic, whereas for the Murtipujak Shvetambars, the employment of ornamentation emphasizes the three stages in the life of a Jina: The Balya-avastha-childhood, the royal Kinghood phase and the Shramana-ascetic stage
Worshipping the formless reality by unthought thought is considered to be the best kind of worship. Even the erudite ganadharas performed the bhaav pooja of the tirthankaras by reciting the Loggassa sutra- Chatur-vinshati-stava sutra with great devotion But when one finds it difficult to concentrate on the abstract, worship of form alone is appropriate, as human beings of the 5th Ara have not yet reached those great spiritual heights where they can dispense with all sorts of symbols and rituals and devote themselves to purely abstract principles of bhava-pooja.
One may wonder, can the worshipping of an idol or decorating it be an ideal mode of showing one’s devotion to the Almighty? Why should one pray to a God, who is incapable of giving anything or being helpful in any manner? Well, the Tirthankaras are adored, anointed, ornamented, bejeweled and venerated from a different viewpoint altogether. They are worshipped whole-heartedly for the innumerable attributes – gunas that they possess Moreover, decorating the anointed idols serves a dual purpose. Firstly it keeps one away from other worldly matters and thereby keeps a check on the asrava and binding of new karmas. Secondly, it facilitates the shedding off of the past karmas. Shubha activity in all forms, be it performance of the Ashtaprakari pooja or decorating the idol with dazzling Aangis, surely helps to subside the inner passions, keeps the otherwise ever-wandering mind calm and cool which in turn leads to the inflow of meritorious karma. Thus all thoughts, words and deeds that lead to meritorious karmas ultimately helps the soul reach great heights and is therefore considered to be important in the path of ultimate liberation.
MUKHADA NI MAYA LAGI, ANTAR MA PRIT RE JAGI
BHAV-BHAV NI PEED JO NE, PAL EK MA RE BHAGI--- -----
Raksha Shah is a visiting lecturer at the University of Mumbai. She is a Jain scholar who represented India at the Parliament of Worlds Religion in the year 2004 She is a Naturopath,free-lance Journalist, Spiritual columnist, compere` on Mumbai television. She is an India sub-committee member of the Virchand Raghavji Gandhi Scholarhip Committee of JAINA- New York..
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