Pristine Jainism : Emotional Discipline

The entire gamut of emotions has been grouped under two main categories i.e. attachment or infatuation (Raga) and aversion or envy (Dvesha). The emotions have been further subdivided into four main types i.e. anger (Krodh), vanity (Man), hypocrisy (Maya) and greed (Lobh). Each of these four types of emotions have been further classified according to their intensity and degree into four classes (degrees) i.e.

1. Extremely severe (Anantanubandhi) which is like a line carved on stone and is very difficult to eradicate,
   
2. Severe (Apratyakhan) like a line of chalk on slate which can be controlled with adequate effort,
   
3. Mild (Pratyakhan) which is like a line drawn on sandy surface and is of transient nature of low intensity and not lasting long;
   
4. Very mild (Sanjawalan) which is like a line drawn on water surface and is therefore momentary and of very low intensity lasting for a very short time.

A follower of Jainism should not succumb to very severe (Anantanubandhi) intensity of emotions and should constantly try to ameliorate and control the intensity of emotions to lower and lower degree with the ultimate objective of reaching Arhat stage which is immune from all sorts of emotions and is a perfectly serene state. There are nine other forms of emotions viz., joking or ridiculing (Parihas), too much sensitivity (Rati), too much insensitivity (Arati), sorrow (Shok), fear (Bhay), hate (Glani) and indulgence in three sexes (male, female and eunuch). Thus there are 4 x 4 = 16 + 9 = 25 types of emotions, which should be controlled and ultimately got rid off to achieve perfect state.

It is common experience that uncontrolled wild emotions are cause of various problems and conflicts and corresponding grief to self and others according to degree and intensity of emotions. Anger leads to loss of rationality and indulgence in violence of even extreme nature culminating in killing also. There are cases on record when mothers in anger lose control on senses and beat children so severely that they are harmed badly and even killed. Mother an epitome of love for her child can kill even its very object of affection under the impact of anger. Vanity generates hate. One may be proud of his wealth, knowledge, strength, beauty etc. It results in superiority or inferiority complexes and is the cause of tensions and conflicts in society. It harms the proud man and others also. Hypocrisy is dangerous for the hypocrite and others also. A hypocrite is not trusted and loses respect. He can indulge in the worst forms of crimes, cheating, adulteration and turn out even a fifth columnist for the country. Greed is the main cause of economic disparities, tension in society and environmental pollution. Mahatma Gandhi rightly said that there is enough in the world for every one's needs but not for even one man's greed. In modern psychiatry and personality evaluation in addition to earlier measure of IQ (intelligence quotient) the measure of EQ (emotion quotient) is also being adopted. A successful manager and executive must have good IQ and EQ. If one is unable to control severity of emotions and does not rationally react to emotions of others, he cannot be successful. The emotional control as prescribed in the code of conduct for Jains is the key to success, peace and happiness to one and all.