often see around us many people rich or poor, thin
or fat, beautiful or ugly. We see many animals, things.
There existence and end is still a mystery that we have been
trying to solve since ages. However, Jainism believes and
tries to provide a beautiful and logical explanation about
these questions. Jains do not believe in a creator, god
who punishes or rewards. Instead the emphasis is on human
responsibility, with each individual soul being responsible
for its own spiritual progress. Jainism teaches equality of
all souls, regardless of creed, caste or gender. The basic
principles stress non-violence (ahimsa), care for life in
all its forms and many-point endless (anekantavada) which
affirms that reality can be viewed from a number of different
Jain Symbol is a congregation of various symbols,
each having a deeper meaning. This symbol was adopted by
all sects of Jainism while commemorating the 2600th anniversary
of the nirvana of Bhagwan Mahavira.
The outline of the symbol is defined as the universe (Lok).
The lower part of the symbol represents the seven hells (Naraki).
The middle part of the universe contains the Earth and the
planets (Manushyalok). The upper part contains the heavenly
abodes (Devlok) of all the celestial beings and abode of the
Siddhas (Siddhashila). Jains believe that this universe was
neither created by anyone, nor can it be destroyed by anyone.
It may change its form, but otherwise, it has always been
and will always be here.
The raised hand means stop. The word in the center
of the wheel is "Ahimsa". Ahimsa means non-violence.
Between these two, they remind us to stop for a minute and
think twice before doing anything. This gives us a chance
to scrutinize our activities to be sure that they will not
hurt anyone by our words, thoughts, or actions. We are also
not supposed to ask or encourage others to take part in any
harmful activity. It reminds of Five Great vows of Sadhus
and explains that it only through theses five great vows that
we can attain moksha . The wheel in the hand shows
that if we are not careful and ignore these warnings and carry
on violent activities, then just as the wheel goes round and
round, we will go round and round through the cycles of birth
The four arms of the swastika remind us that during
the cycles of birth and death we may be born into any one
of the four destinies, it stands for four Gatiyan:
Heavenly beings Dev gati (the right direction) represents
the life of a Dev, in Devlok, after death.
Human beings Manush gati (the upward direction) represents
the life of a Human, in Jamboo dweep, after death.
Animal beings Triyanch gati (the left direction, including
birds, bugs, and plants) represents the life of a animal or
plant, after death.
Hellish beings Narak gati (the downward direction)
represents the life of a Narki, in Narak, after death.
Our aim should be the liberation and not the rebirth. To show
how we can do this, the swastika reminds us that we should
become the pillars of the four fold Jain Sangh, then only
we can achieve liberation. The four pillars of the Jain Sangh
are sadhus, sadhvis, shravaks, and shravikas. This means that
first, we should strive to be a true shrävaks or shravikas,
and when we can overcome our social attachments, we should
renounce the worldly life and follow the path of a sadhu or
sädhvi to be liberated.
The three dots above the swastika represent the three
jewels of Jainism: Samyak Darshan (Right Faith), Samyak Gyan
(Right Knowledge), and Samyak Charitra (Right Conduct). We
should have all three: right knowledge, right faith, and right
conduct together, then only we can achieve the liberation.
The right knowledge means having the knowledge that soul and
body are separate and that the soul, not the body attains
the salvation. The right faith means one must have faith in
what is told by Jinas, who were omniscient. The right conduct
means that our actions should be void of attachment and hatred.
At the very top part of the Jain Universe symbol is a small
curved arc. This arc represents the abode of the Siddhas.
It is known as the Siddhashila. It is the final resting place
of the liberated souls. The dot represents a siddha. In order
to achieve this stage, a soul must destroy all attached karmas.
Every living being should strive for this state of the Salvation
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