Acharya Tulshi - anadiananth.com

Religion, Anuvrat and Human Wellness

About the Author

Acharya Tulsi was a great connoisseur of the gems of the human beings. He was a skilful sculptor. He was an artist of high caliber. He transformed many an unchiselled stones in form of human beings into excellent statues as nuns and monks. Acharya Tulsi remained in the office of Terapantha religious order for 60 years. His tenure as the Acharya was a golden period in the history of this religious order. He had the wonderful gift of adjusting himself with the changing stream of time. Acharya Tulsi, with his indomitable will power and firm determination realized every dream that he visualized. He had to face great hurdles, obstacles and strong opposition, but with his firm resolution, he overcame them all. He possessed a multidimensional personality. For the welfare of humanity, he introduced perceptional meditation, Anuvrata, science of living and training in non-violence. Acharya Mahapragya, Yuvacharya Mahashraman and Kanakprabhaji, the head of nuns, are his unique creations.

About the Book

Acharya Tulsi Ji through the pages of this book, has given us readers an insight into the mindset of a perfect leader and rather a prolific thinker and a fierce follower of the principles of non-violence, the birth sight of the Jaina Philosophy. This book is actually a compilation of two separate books authored by Acharya Tulsi Ji, which were published earlier and the book dwells upon the thoughts and insights on topics like:

Why religion is necessary in the modern world?

Why do the modern minds fail to understand the significance of religion?

How can a religion make itself reach out to the masses?

Is science and religion opposite to each other?

How can equability be established amongst all religions?

Anuvrata: Its inception, fundamentals and working

What are the duties of a religious person?

How intellectualism and spirituality are co-existent?

An insight into Terapanth

The constituents of devotion: knowledge, vision, conduct and penance

The ideal of rectitude

How aggravating sensual passion is a problem and what are the solutions?

Why one should fast?

Self- control

Sense of individuality in building of a society

The concept of unity in diversity

How mere learning is not sufficient for progress?

Faith: the basics of Unity

Democracy: India and the World

Religion

It is quite interesting to see that how Acharya Tulsi Ji could comprehend some of the most complex and sensitive topics in the simplest of words and his outright approach and simple one line answers to such intrinsic problems portrays that how Acharya Tulsi Ji was ahead of his time in his approach and working. The concepts regarding the fundamentals of a religion have indulged me to such an extent that it made me realise that how closely do we humans associate ourselves to our religion and how big of an impact the religion has on us. It further stipulates that why the modern minds look out for logical reasoning in purview of science and why most religions fail to understand the same and rather fail the test of time by following such unscientific traditions. It has also been emphasised that instead of being separated in sects it is necessary to understand that religion is primary and sects are secondary. Time has reversed the process; sects became primary and religion secondary. The message of religion will always be Love, Friendliness, and Equality. The result of the sects was: you are all different, since your religions are diverse. You are a Jain, you a Shaiva, you a Vaishnava, you a Buddhist and so on. The aim of religion was to unify all and hence this should be something we all should reflect upon.

Terapanth

The book even reflects upon the World Politics and provides an insight into the views of Acharya Tulsi Ji towards the conditions of democracy in India and how it is paramount to the conditions around it. Since the time around which the ideas had been compiled by Acharya Tulsi Ji, were the times when the world was recovering from the World War II, followed by many other wars fought by India against Chine and Pakistan, the book also speaks about the horrifies which are accompanied with a war. It has been stated that though India achieved its independence on the principles of non-violence but non-violence was created to be the religion of India and the policies and actions of then Government was violent in its approach which lead to such situations. However, the book further goes on to embark a responsibility on the citizens of a nation in war to be responsible in their conduct and follow discipline in order to cope with the hardships and also because a nation without discipline and the rule of law needs no enemy to defeat her as it self- defeated.

Quotes from the Book

“Religion is not mere intellectual attainment but is also the natural desire of man.”

“Objects are only the means of pleasure but they do not cause pleasure of themselves. Pleasure is experienced by the mind and senses in conjunction with the mind. It is possible only when the mind is balanced and in a state of equilibrium.”

“A religious man loves all and so he can hate none. He considers all creatures like himself and so he cannot think in terms of exploitation.”

“Some people hold that the fruit of religion is to be had only in the next world. I do not know if it is so, but how can that which bears no fruit in this world fructify in the next? Future never neglects the present.”

“The first tenet of religion is faith. A man of faith never deviates from his aim.”

“There are thousands who live in a religious atmosphere and are yet hypocrites and subject to anger. Again there are thousands who stay away from all religious environments and are yet men of peace and integrity.”

“Religion can be more important than sects if greater emphasis is put on forgiveness, gentility, simplicity, purity, truth, self-control, penance, renunciation, non-possession and celibacy than on worship.”

“The importance of worshipping some man or deity lies in obeying him, and not in mere empty worship.”

“The five causes that I have discussed, contribute to the rejection of religion, but this does not mean that science, intellectualism, economic development and religion cannot go together. Should our attitude be one of harmony there can be no hardship in their co-existence.”

“Fear is undesirable but that there should be no fear of indiscipline is wholly undesirable. If a person is not disciplined he can make neither himself nor others fearless.”

“One form of the germs of dissipation is amorous indulgence, the second is prodigality and the third the increase of wants. Their existence is based only on wealth. This is why people are after money. Corruption is its necessary result.”

“The centre of a problem lies in the mind and the solution also emanates from it. A problem is caused by the surrounding situation which also finds a solution to it.”

“Fasting is accomplished only when mind, speech, and action are brought together in close harmony.”

“Immorality persists even when the circumstances are favorable. It is very necessary to be rid of violence and its causative factors before one can be free from immorality.”

“Undisciplined society is but a skeleton. Discipline has two sides, sanctity of heart and chastisement. The first is the development of the character of an individual and the second is governmental action.”

“As many persons so many minds. As many minds so many their tastes. They cannot all be fulfilled. Friction is not impossible when their appetites remain unsatisfied. The middle road is one of harmony. There is surely conflict where there is disunity, where there is disharmony.”

“The secret of a community life is unity in diversity and diversity in unity.”

“It seems that unrighteousness is a game of chess. People play it and amuse themselves, though not one of them is winning. Victory will certainly be theirs who are far away from this game.”

“In the absence of spiritual attainments worldly problems become acute, and even spiritual problems get complicated for want of worldly achievements. Spirituality does not give us bread, but it can remove the cause i.e. hoarding on account of which one does not get bread.”

“For emotional integration, it is very necessary to rely on self-restraint and patience.

“Social sense can be healthy only when we have faith in community life. Individual freedom means much, but self-aggrandisement is very mean.”

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Bhagavan Mahavira: Life And Philosophy

About the Author

About the Book

Life is not exactly what we perceive it to be. Life is the body our soul resides. The soul is immortal i.e., which never dies. It takes rebirth numerous times. Being born in India, we all are told that someone is looking at us and keeping a check on our good deeds and bad deeds. It is said that we are born by bringing in this world the burden of deeds from our past lives be it good or bad. Hence, we were always advised by our elders and numerous great scholars to always do good deeds and practice Ahimsa which translates into non-violence. These teachings are imbibed in our minds but as time passes, we tend to overlook these teachings and focus on the results. If we fail to achieve the desired results, we feel dejected and sometimes it leads to sorrow or persistence beyond reality. Sorrow is something which is a result of our thinking. Sometimes, to achieve the desired results, we do injustice to others even without our knowledge.

This book has simply mentioned the basic principle we all must follow as human beings to live peacefully and also to free ourselves from the shackles of birth and death. In Indian Culture, we have specific uchharas which were practised but eventually, we have forgotten them. Some people relate these kinds of teachings and uchharas to spirituality and after becoming atheists and ignore it. We are from a culture where spirituality and science are always connected. For eg. In our culture, married women wear toe rings or vermilion which has a scientific reason attached to it but in the course of modernization, we think of these as age-old trends. Due to such neglect of our practices, we are facing issues but are still not ready to accept the fact that our culture is much more advanced than we think it to be. Simply practising the five basic principles of non-violence (ahimsa); non-attachment (aparigraha); not lying (satya); not stealing (asteya); and sexual restraint (brahmacharya), with these celibacy ideals one can step into a much cultured and a greed free society. Not thinking about these as a spiritual practice but thinking of them as a stepping stone to becoming a greater human being and ensuring a good environment for all. We all can at our levels start practising these basic principles and become more aware and fairer towards each other since we can easily state that,

“What goes around comes back”

Which is the case for Karma. Hence, we all should not be engulfed in temporary happiness and become unfair, rather, we all should focus on long-term happiness instead of momentary gains. The gains we earn by performing good deeds will always be with us to nullify the bad deeds which were done by us knowingly or unknowingly in the past. The one thing one must always keep in mind is that we are the determinants of our fate and by performing good deeds, we can enhance our fate. As it is said that

“Do good deeds don’t worry about the results”.

This book teaches us with examples from the Life of Tirthankara Mahavira that to live our life to the fullest, we all should be more patient and not be hostile towards anyone no matter whatever they have done to us in the past. Everyone has a different definition of living life to the fullest for some earning money and fame is living life whereas for some it is living peacefully. From this book we learn to maintain a balance between these lifestyles and incline more towards living a well-balanced lifestyle which is beneficial for others as well as for us not only on a spiritual level but also physically as well as psychologically. Lord Mahavira or Bhagwan Mahavira, or Tirthankara or Kevalgyani are the names used for addressing the Kevalgyani Mahavira, for the words Tirthankara or Kevalgyani means someone who has achieved omniscience and is free from the cycle of birth and death.

Excerpts to Remember from this book:

The soothing message of ahimsa came as a great relief to the victims of widespread violence in the same way in the which in the first Showers of the summer rain are welcome to those sweating in the heat of the summer sun.

It is true that new born child comes all alone and barehands in the world but it is also equally true that it subtle body and mind contains infinite potentialities.

Joy born of a sense of worldly gains is not pure. It is alloyed with passion. Spiritual Joy is perfectly pure it can never be followed by sorrow.

Subtle power had come to acquire perfect control over gross one. By removing the effect of Karma and enveloping his consciousness he had permanently developed the capacity for pratyaksh or direct perception, avadhi jnana which may be called as clairvoyance.

The Principle of equalitarianism comprises dharma and it’s opposite is adharma. All the living beings are equal to each other insofar as their potentialities are concerned. No living being is smaller or greater in this respect.

From the point of view of their development, the living beings can be classified into six categories:

Beings with earth bodies

Beings with water bodies

Beings with fire bodies

Beings with air bodies

Vegetation being composed of vegetation bodies

Mobile living beings.

The following are the constituents of the Religion of Equalitarianism:

Don’t be afraid of anybody, nor terrorise anybody.Don’t consider yourself nor others to be wretched.

Don’t cherish hatred towards anybody.

Don’t be sorry if you do not get what you have desired and don’t be joyous if you get it.

Don’t be elated in your happiness and dejected in your misery.

Don’t be attached to life nor be afraid of death.

Don’t be puffed up by flattery nor be upset by criticism.

Ahimsa consists in attitude of equanimity.

Truth is the Eternal Religion. In order to practise truth—

Don’t practise falsehood even through bodily actions.

Be straight-forward and ingenuous by expressing the same feelings which you have in your mind.

Speak the truth and don’t tell a lie.

Don’t be double, tongued and maintain a balance between what you say and what you do.

Don’t be prone to anger.

Don’t be covetous.

Don’t be afraid.

Don’t indulge in revelry.

The spirit of equality created by Bhagavan Mahavira in that age of inequality is still the greatest inspiration for the present age also.

Unity as well as differences are the nature of things and both of them will remain. Once we develop the attitude of non-violence, differences disappear and co-existence becomes feasible. Non-violence is higher development of consciousness.