How do Jains practice meditation in Paryushan?

Meditation is medicine for the soul. When done early in the morning, it helps in purifying our thoughts, emotions and our innermost bad qualities. It is the duty of a seeker to cleanse one’s bhaav (emotions) and instincts during Paryushan Mahaparva which would in turn lead to purification of the soul.

It is ideal to do meditation for 48 mins at a stretch. Give yourself the command of ‘thanenam, monenam, zanenam, appanam vosirami’ and sit in kausagga (meditative posture). Kausagga is a practice to disconnect your body from external materialistic world, relations, five senses and cut off yourself from the clutter of temporary connections. This disconnection and cut off process for a few moments is called kausagga.

Thanenam means, to make your body still
Monenam means, to silence your words
Zanenam means, to calm down and silence your mind
Appanam Vosirami means, to disconnect from the entire outer world

With closed eyes and meditative posture, while performing Kausagg, you can chant Logassa sutra one time, four times, eight times or more. Namaskar mantra can also be recited 7 times, 9 times or more till we can maintain the stability of our body. You can also remember the names of 24 Tirthankars while performing kausagga. Kausagga can be done in a standing posture or in a sitting posture too. Many devotees practice 20, 40, 50 logassa aradhana as per their mental and physical stability while remaining in the kausagga position. Kausagga ardhana can be continued till we can remain poised in one position and once we feel that our threshold to remain steady has reached, we can resume to normal position and relieve from kausagga practice.

Meditation is the process to disconnect, cut-off from the body, thoughts, worldly connections and stabilize the restlessness of the body. A restless body is the reason to bind Nikachit karma and hence practice of kausagga is beneficial to stabilize our perturbed mind and eventually purify our soul during Paryushan Mahaparva.

Paryushan Parv – the 8-day Jain Festival of Forgiveness is an occasion to eliminate the impurities that pollute the soul – such as anger, ego, greed, jealousy, deceit, attachment, hatred and much more. It is a period of emotional cleansing and becoming light and relaxed from within.

From a karmic perspective, it is said that during these 8 days, the magnetic frequencies in the entire universe are the highest. As a result, the soul vibrates the most and may even bind the karmas that determine his next birth. And therefore, Jains observe maximum sadhanas, spiritual practices, penance and fasting during these days to make the most of this auspicious period.

Param Gurudev Shree Namramuni Maharaj Saheb profoundly enlists a detailed list of Do’s and Don’ts of what should be done and what we should refrain from doing during these divine days of Paryushan. During these Paryushan days, Jains make an effort to realize, repent and seek forgiveness for mistakes made during the entire year by performing Pratikraman, Alochana fasting, taking small Pachkhan vows, etc. The last day of Paryushan, known as Samvatsari, is the day when everyone performs the annual practice of Samvatsari Pratikraman and says sorry or ‘Michhami Dukadam’ to every living of the universe for having hurt them knowingly or unknowingly through their mind, body and speech.