44.Excess of Devotion

Chapter -44

Excess of Devotion
Prudence is necessary while performing religious rituals. Devotion becomes blind in the absence of prudence.

A prudence of least “Aadambar” (ostentation) is expected in all religious acts.

Although sectarianism has crept in Jainism due to differ­ent manners of worship but Achharya Shri Shanti Sagar ji did not encourage imprudent/indiscriminate religious conduct.

Once, Pandit Makkhanlal Ji placed a fresh charming rose flower at the feet of Achharya Shri. Achharya Shri said Pandit ji, “You are a learned man then why this sort of excess in devo­tion?” Pandit Ji told, “When we offer flower in the worship of Deity then why not to Guru?” Achharya Shri replied, “Brother! if there is devotion then offer it just before me but not on any part of the body otherwise by and by people shall start placing it on the head of the saint due to which the characteristic of nudity of Jain saints shall vanish and the very subtle and delicate organisms present in the flower may face uneasiness by the heat of our body.”

Once, this kind of indiscriminate behavior led the life of a digambar Jain saint into danger. The incident was that the saint was suffering from fever and the people consecrated him like consecration of an idol with “Panchamrit” (a mixture of milk, water, curd, etc.) due to which the fever transformed into col­lapsible fever.

One should not lose prudence in the excess of devotion.