🔸 Essential Tools of a Monk: Optional and Mandatory
In today’s episode, we explore the tools and attire of Jain monks, categorized as either compulsory or optional.
Compulsory items include:
- Rajoharan (broom made of wool)
- Guccho (wooden whisk)
- Muhpatti (mouth-cloth)
- Patra (bowls for food and water)
Optional items include:
- Scriptures (Pothi)
- Clothes (simple robes)
The upper garment is called Pachhedi, and the lower garment is called Cholpatta. Each item has precise measurements. For example:
- The Muhpatti should measure 21 fingers in length and 16 in width.
- It is folded eight times.
- The Patra (bowls): Each monk can have four bowls – three for food and one for water.
- If there are five monks, 20 bowls are allowed.
Even robes have specific sizes based on function:
- Cholpatta: One and a half hands in height
- Pachhedi for lectures: 3 hands
- For alms and inside wear: 2 hands
- Female monks (Mahasatiji) wear a larger Pachhedi (4 hands).
Everything is precise, minimal, and well-organized, as described in the Agam Shastra (scriptures).
🔸 The Essence of Renunciation (Diksha)
What does a monk truly receive when the Guru bestows Diksha and hands over these garments and tools?
He receives inspiration:
“Now that I wear these robes, I commit to a life of hard work and spiritual effort.”
The word Shraman means:
- Self-reliant (not dependent on anyone)
- Detached from comforts
A monk lives with:
- His own portable bathroom (Rajoharan)
- His own kitchen (Patras)
- His own study (Scriptures)
- His own living space (Guccho, Rajoharan)
They carry everything with them. Their life is a symbol of independence, discipline, and austerity. They abandon all comforts, not out of helplessness but from conscious choice.
This is the actual, natural, scientific, and ultimate way of living — a life of fearlessness, peace, and simplicity.
🔸 The Great Vow (Pachchakhan)
Upon Diksha, the monk recites the Karemi Bhante mantra:
“From now on, I will not commit any sin towards any living being.”
This is the vow of complete non-violence, self-restraint, and detachment from worldly pleasures like comfort, security, and social prestige.
Just as the demon Ravana had 10 heads, so does every worldly person metaphorically carry 10 “heads” (attachments):
- Five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch)
- Four passions (anger, pride, deceit, greed)
- The ego (self-attachment)
Diksha involves the symbolic shaving (mundan) of all ten — the cutting off of all attachments.
A monk is self-responsible and no longer depends on anyone. Though laypeople (Shravaks and Shravikas) support them, monks do not expect or demand such support.
🔸 The Eligibility for Diksha
Diksha is not for everyone. It is for the mentally strong, the spiritually stable, and the physically capable.
Monks undergo a strict examination before initiation:
- Body should be fit, not overweight (as obesity brings laziness)
- No major diseases (vata, pitta, kapha disorders)
- Age and health should support long-distance walking
- No hidden attachments to the world
Even social compatibility is checked — whether one can live peacefully in the Sangh (monastic community). Only after passing all criteria does the Guru bestow the Pachchakhan.
Diksha is not an escape from failure in the worldly life.
Those who fail in the world will likely fail in monkhood too.
True renunciation is for those who don’t fear the world — they just choose something higher.
🔸 Living Without Fear, Without Comfort
Monkhood means:
- No security
- No comforts
- No luxury
- Only self-reliance
And yet… how are monks so joyful?
Because they:
- Let go of everything connected to the body
- Accept only the soul as their truth
- Experience a flow of inner spiritual power
- Find joy even in pain (e.g., acidity during fasting feels like karma dissolving!)
Even insults don’t touch them — because they’re beyond ego.
Hunger, lack of sleep, illness — they embrace all as part of their spiritual path.
They live with truth, not illusion.
“Suffering is just a mental misunderstanding. It is an illusion.”
🔸 Final Words – The Real Freedom
Ordinary people try to forget pain through:
- Movies
- Food
- Drinks
- Gossip
- Distractions
But a monk does not escape pain — he embraces reality.
He says:
“Even without a single rupee, I feel infinite bliss.”
“I haven’t slept on a bed for 18 years — and I still wake up happy.”
There is no desire for tea, coffee, ice cream, or luxury.
There is only one thing: Pure spiritual joy.
🧘♂️ Conclusion
This is the true nature of Diksha —
Not just a ritual, but a total transformation of life into a path of discipline, truth, and inner power.
To maintain the initial intense spiritual energy (Apramatt Bhav) that arises at the time of Diksha —
That is the lifelong duty of every monk.
And that’s what we will explore in the next episode.