Hey everyone! and Jai Jinendra, everyone.
Welcome to another Jainism Basics video.
Today, I'm gonna be answering some of your frequently asked questions from the comments
of my Jainism Basics videos.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can check out the playlist that's linked
in the description and in the card in one of the corners, I don't know which corner.
So let's just get started!
Question one: Is a Jain permitted to kill a mosquito or any other sort of bug that is
intent on harming him/her by sucking his/her blood?
Well, Leland, first of all, I would highly encourage you to look into the singular "they"
pronoun.
Um, but, "is a Jain permitted to kill a mosquito or any other sort of bug or anything?" the
answer is no.
I do believe very highly in self-defense, but otherwise, no you shouldn't kill other
beings for any reason.
I really like using mosquito spray, like, mosquito repellant on myself so that they
don't bite me, but it's just a matter of doing everything in your power not to harm another
being.
Obviously, sometimes these things are instinctual, like a fly lands on you and you slap it, but
then, if you feel remorse, that's much better than feeling no remorse at all, which would
be...bad.
Okay next question.
Please provide resources for learning Jainism from basics.
Well, Rajni, thank you for commenting.
I am working, currently, on a big resource compilation that won't be a video because
it would be too unwieldy and everything would have to be linked in the description and stuff.
So it's actually a massive document that I'm working on, full of resources that will be
accessible in the next couple months if you are a Patron, and then a couple months later,
hopefully, for the general public.
I will make it public eventually.
But if you're a patron, it is an exclusive right now, so be sure to check out my Patreon
if you would like to access the resources that I've compiled myself.
Obviously, again, I don't know everything, and feel free to leave resources in the comments
below if you have any good resources that I couldn't think of.
"In a lot of Jain scripture-" Okay so this is gonna be an intense one.
"In a lot of Jain scripture, it is mentioned about Indra and the Devatas will come and
listen to thirthankar's speech.
Now who are those people and one more thing, Jainism believe in three lokas, right?
Okay, so, the first part: Indra and Devatas.
So, Indra is considered a type of god, not a Thirthankar, but he is a character in the
mythology of Jainism who has a lot of power.
He is very very powerful in Mahavirswami's story.
He actually transferred Vardhaman - Mahavir's original name - from one body to another.
From one woman's body to another and made Queen Trishala pregnant that way.
So he has a lot of power, and he lived a very very long time, and same with Devatas and
Devis and Devs.
They are all beings of that sort, who have a lot of power and who don't live on Earth.
They live in a different place and they can come and go and affect change on Earth if
they so choose.
But mostly, they are fellow devotees of Thirthankars.
Yakshas and Yakshinis aren't necessarily, there are good yakshas and bad yakshas and
yakshinis.
I would say they're most similar to what saints - I guess not saints because saints lived
on Earth and achieved some sort of thing - achieved a status of Sainthood, I guess sort of like
angels, who like, interact with the world but don't - but aren't a part of the world
necessarily.
That's what I would say Devs and Indra are.
They live in a different world, in a different realm, which is what you're referencing in
the second half of the question, and they can come to earth if they so choose and they
can take people from Earth to places like Mount Meru.
Pretty in-depth question, and I don't have all of the answers to that, but that's the
closest I could get to an explanation for what that is.
"And one more thing, Jainism believes in three lokas, right?"
Yes.
So, in Jainism, we have a whole different geography that includes, like, the cosmos
and things like that.
And I am not an expert at all in it, but lokas are just different realms of worlds and we
believe in multiple realms of worlds.
I wouldn't call it similar to the multiverse at all, because it's all part of the same
universe, like, we can interact with the other lokas, sort of, but I'll leave a link in the
description for more on Jain Geography.
"If Jainism is peaceful than why Jains attack Muslims in India?"
It's because Islamophobia is real and there are bad people in all religions, and there
are people who are influenced by bad ideas in all religions and Jainism isn't excluded
from that just because it's my religion.
There just aren't great people sometimes, and sometimes those not-great people can affect
the opinions of a lot of people.
And it's terrible but I feel like Jain teachings try to get you to rise above it, but it's
a matter of the person themselves affecting that change.
Someone can say they're Jain but believe in bad things, or believe negative things about
other people or groups of other people and that's on that person, it's not on the religion,
just like it's on that person when someone of a Christian faith does something bad, or
it's on that person when someone from a Muslim faith does something bad.
It's not the religion's fault, which teach peace.
All religions teach peace.
But sometimes, bad things happen, and sometimes because of that, people get bad ideas in their
head about other people.
But hopefully, we can rise above that.
"Can you translate the prayers into English if possible?"
I am not a translator, and I am not the best person to ask for this, unfortunately.
I know that because of my Jainism Basics series, a lot of people seek me out and ask me complicated
things that I don't have all the answers to, unfortunately, and translation is not my strong
point.
If you listen to me talk in Gujarati with my grandparents you would understand.
And in addition to that, the sutras aren't in Hindi or Gujarati.
They're in a different Sanskrit language so it would be very difficult for me to translate
these prayers, and they wouldn't be good translations.
So I urge you to search elsewhere for that, if possible.
I know it's hard to find resources.
I am working on it, and if I can find a good translation for the Navkaar Mantra or something,
I will link it below.
At the end, all religions put humans on top.
Who knows, maybe being a tree could be the best thing that could ever happen to anyone.
Smiley-face.
Yeah, um.
It's true that all religions seem to put humans on top, but there is a reason for that.
It's because we're in control of our own instincts, where as other animals have to kill in order
to survive.
And other animals aren't able to think critically, and trees, as far as we know, aren't able
to think for themselves and exist for themselves and perform actions for themselves, where
humans are able to do that.
humans are able to think through their decision.
And this critical thinking allows humans to go through a journey that other animals or
beings aren't able to do to become better than what they were and what their base instincts
are.
So that's why I think all religions seem to put humans on top, including Jainism.
Okay, this is a lot of questions all at once.
"So I made it through your Jainism Basics videos.
Is there another playlist you made?"
No.
"Do some Jains do a water-only fast the entire week?
I've only known one person who did that."
Yes, some Jains do only drink boiled water for the entirety of the eight days of Paryushan,
which is a fasting holiday.
I would compare it to something like Lent or Ramadan, where you look back on everything
that's happened and apologize for the bad and repent.
All of those great things.
And sometimes that includes fasting, not always, especially if you have health issues or anything.
Always stay healthy.
It's not a matter of fasting the most or anything.
It's doing what you can in order to repent and really meaning it.
But yes, I know a few people, including many members of my own family who haven't eaten
for eight days and only drank boiled water between sunrise and sunset.
But it is very hard and I can't go more than two days without food, so to each their own.
"I follow the Society of Friends, which in my humble opinion could be the most peaceful
Christian-based religion, however I do believe that Jainism is the most peaceful of all global
religions.
Will have to look up Jainism Museums in the NJ/NY area because I'm currently forty-five
minutes out of the area."
So the reason I included this comment is because A) It was very nice.
Thank you.
But B) because of the Jain Museum comment within it.
There aren't really Jain Museums that I know of, admittedly I haven't looked into it too
much, however in New Jersey there is the Siddhachalam Thirth, which is the first thirth outside
of India that you can pilgrimage to.
And it is a beautiful place.
I've been there several times.
And it's really amazing to be there and pray there.
And another place you could go that's definitely more accessible is the Jain Center of America
in Queens, NY.
And there is information everywhere there.
And it's really inclusive of all of the different versions of the Jain faith.
And it's just wonderful there.
If you take the stairs, there is information on the walls that teaches you everything in
English.
It's just a great place.
I just know the New York/New Jersey area well, so I thought I would include that and shout
out those places.
Okay, this is a toughie.
"Anything but in your religious and than your religious -" I believe you meant to say religion
"-anything but in your religion you are killing yourself but then your religion says don't
kill anyone then why to kill yourself seriously."
Okay so I think what you're trying to say is Why do you advocate for not killing anyone
but you're trying to kill yourself, which I think is a reference to the fasting and
giving things up.
It's not trying to kill yourself.
As I said before, try to stay healthy, try to be as - try to survive.
It's not trying to kill yourself by fasting.
It's just a way to repent.
You can give up other things.
I know someone who gave up showers and only took baths to lessen the amount of water they
used for those eight days.
I know people who have eaten all day but haven't - but only had a certain number of food items.
They could have as much as they wanted of those items but it was only like five different
items of food.
And it's just one tool in the toolkit of Jainism to ask for forgiveness and to understand - just
to further understand yourself.
But I really don't think it advocates for killing yourself.
I do know people who have fasted for very long times when they were very young, but
it wasn't ever the parents pushing them and it was their decision and that's what matters.
And yeah, it's just not about that, and that just indicates a misunderstanding of the religion,
which is a real shame, because a lot of misunderstand it and don't realize that it's really not
about that.
So I hope that you find resources that tell you otherwise, because it's not about that.
"Where are you guys your creator sent his last messenger to show you true way of life.
If once read quran and know your creator."
I respect your opinion that Mohammed was the messenger of the Creator and I respect all
religions who believe in monotheism or thiesm itself.
However, that's not my religion.
However I am open to reading the Quran.
It's a shame that I haven't, considering it was required for me to read the bible in college.
Or parts of the bible, I should say, because if you're an English major, pretty much everything
you read before the 1800s has to do with the bible.
But yeah, I should definitely read the Quran, and try to understand it further, because
I know Islam is a very beautiful religion.
It's just not mine and I hope you respect that.
I do get a lot of messages like this, saying that Jesus Christ is my savior or that I am
sinning somehow by talking about my religion, or that everything is wrong in my videos.
And first, I would like to apologize if I have actually gotten something wrong.
It's not my intention to spread misinformation.
And I am always open to dialogue about correcting things in videos, but these kinds of comments
really make me sad because I'm just trying to share with the world what I know about
my religion and I'm not trying to preach and I'm not trying to change anyone's mind or
do anything that's considered sinning.
I'm just doing my best to explain a part of my life, honestly.
So I hope that makes sense, and I hope that you are able to still experience your own
religion and feel fulfilled with it while understanding the others.
"Thanks for these lessons.
Please continue to do more on Jainism."
I am.
"I'd love to listen to more stories/parables such as the elephant and blind men."
I have gotten a lot of requests for this, I just haven't done my reading
enough for it. I'm not the best student.
but I am working on trying to find more stories
and share them. But like I've said time and time again,
these videos take time because I want to get things right.
Except for this one, which is just unscripted and me talking.
It's something I do really love about my religion, so I hope I find more that I can share with you guys.
Okay, so that is it for this video.
If you have any more questions,
feel free to ask them down in the comments below.
I will do my best to get to them, and if not, maybe they'll end up in another video like this.
What do you guys think? Would you like to see more like this?
I am working on more scripted videos that have more real information about Jainism
But they do take time. I apologize for the amount of time it's taken
for me to make another Jainism video.
but another one will be coming pretty soon.
And feel free to check out all of my other videos on various various topics
in the meantime.
If you enjoyed these videos, be sure to check out
my Patreon, if you would like to support them further.
There are great perks there like the Jainism resources document
that I'm working on and other things.
If you like these videos, check 'em out, see if you want to support it further.
And once again, I would like to thank you all so much for supporting these videos.
It means the world to me that people are willing to lend an ear and listen to me talk
about my religion and other parts of my identity.
And it's really wonderful that you guys are all so curious and ask such amazing questions
that sometimes I'm not able to answer because they're too hard for me.
And it means the world to me that other people are willing to jump in and answer if I
don't know an answer or if I can't get to the question.
And it's really formed a really great community around these videos.
And I thank you so much for that.
Otherwise, that is it for this video.
This is going to be the start of "More videos in April"
I am trying to do a video every day, but we'll see about that.
We know how I am with these videos.
I will see you guys next time. Bye!
Special thanks to: Jay Patel For being my patron. If you would like to support my video work, head on over to my Patreon and check out the perks.
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