What is Jainism?

“Jain” is derived from the word jin which means “to be victorious” – “to struggle and be victorious in all spheres”.

But how is it possible to be victorious living like a tortoise?

What is required for victory is a vigorous upward momentum.

Jainism:

• leads people from light to darkness
• throws them into the darkness of inactivity
• makes them total cynics.

That is why Jainism has never spread outside India – it is not compatible with a natural philosophy of life.

Jainism has survived only in the western part of India, among a few merchants.

Today, Jainism has been rooted out of Ráŕh, where it had once originated.

Nirgrantha Jainism (the Digambara Jain doctrine) is:

• based on the doctrine of nirváńa and
• diametrically opposite of expansive Shaivism.

Both remained side by side in the heart of Ráŕh for a long time.

An age of synthesis came about in a natural way.

During this period, Jain Tantra spread among those of the Digambara Jains who were of sádhaka [spiritual] calibre.

• This was because the theoretical nirgranthaváda [váda = “ism”] could no longer internally satisfy them.

Jain Tantra is just another name for Shaeva Tantra.

The psychology based on this Jain Tantra gave rise to the Baul psychology.

The Bengali word Bául [crazy] is derived from the Sanskrit bátul.

• The Sanskrit letters ka, ta, pa and da are transformed into a in Mágadhii Prákrta.
• Thus bátul became bául.

The person who directs all his or her psychic urges towards knowing the unknown and obtaining the unobtainable is deemed by the common people as bátul [mad] – bául:

Kálsamudrer tiire Tár-i pratiikśáy Áchi yug dhari, Bháungi ár gaŕe shudhu bálukáy Divasa-sharvarii.

[On the shore of the ocean of time, I have awaited Him for ages; all the day and night I break and again build a house on sand.]

Tikta jalasikta ánkhi, rikta buk mor, Tavu áchi jági “durlabher lági”.

[My eyes are wet with bitter tears and my heart is empty; yet still I wake, waiting for the unattainable.]

Bátul means “mad”.

Pointing to the Bauls, people would say that they seem to be:

• not of this world
• from a different world, of the noumenal world
• a bit mad

The outlook and tunes of the Bauls have had a great impact on most of the folk songs of Ráŕh.

The modern poet Rabindranath was influenced to a great extent by the tunes and music arising out of the Baul mentality:

Grám-cháŕá oi ráunámát́ir path Ámár man bhuláy re.

[Yonder the path of red soil that leaves the village casts a spell on my mind.]

What is noticeable here is that it is not simply a “path”, but a “path of red soil”, that leaves the village heading into the distance, casting a spell on the poet’s mind.

This clearly reflects the Baul mentality in Rabindranath.

This is why when the senior Baul singers of Birbhum hear Raviindra Saḿgiita, they say, “This is a song by Rabi[ndranath] Baul!”

1981, Kolkata

Footnotes

(1) In most other cultures of the Indian sub-continent up until recent times, only lower-caste women had been permitted to remarry. –Trans.

(2) Karma sannyása can also be used in a positive sense. Elsewhere the author has said: “According to some interpretations, it means naeśkarma [total inactivity]. Some are of the view that it signifies samyaka karmánta [perfect completion of work]. And others opine that unification with the Supreme Consciousness through karma is karma sannyása.… if one aspires to undertake any noble ventures, then one has to unite one’s own intellect with the Cosmic Intellect, and work with the help of the supreme knowledge of Parama Puruśa. This is the spirit of karma sannyása.” (“The Cardinal Spirit of Action and the Supreme Stance of Devotion” in Subháśita Saḿgraha Part 9.) Sthiti sannyása means “adherence to staticity”. –Trans.

(3) Ignorance; centrifugal, or extroversial, force; force of repulsion from the Nucleus Consciousness; aspect of the Cosmic Operative Principle which guides movements from the subtle to the crude. –Trans.