Paryushan Parva, popularly known as the festival of forgiveness in the most important festival celebrated among the Jain community all around the world.
Paryushan Parva spans for a period of 8 days and most of the individuals belonging to the community perform rigid fasts during the eight days. The fasts include Upvas; where an individual can only drink boiled water from sunrise till sunset on the day he or she performs the fast. Food can only be eaten the next day after sunrise. Some people fast for two days in a row; which is called Bela in Jain terminology, some fast for three days; which is known as Tela, some for 8 days; which is known as Athai.
The rules of all these fasts are similar; whether you fast for one day or for 8 or more days in a chain, you can only drink water from the time when the sun rises till the time it sets. The longest fasts on Earth are conducted by the Jains of the Jain community throughout the world. Astonishing examples have been set by the Jains when it comes to fasting. Thousands of Jains have set the example of fasting for 30 days in a row and this fast is more popularly known as Maas Khaman in Jain terminology.
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It is impossible to believe but the truth is that a number of Jains have fasted for 100 days in a row and even more surviving purely on water that too during daytime. The question that arises is what is the need of fasting in such a tough manner? Ask any of the Jains and they will explain you the reason behind this.
According to the Jain literature, the more you survive in tough conditions, the more free you are from the sins that you have committed in this life and also in your past lives. During the last day of the Paryushan Parva, the Jains ask for forgiveness from all their family members and all their friends for any mistake they have committed during the last year, knowingly and unknowingly. As a matter of fact, they even forgive everyone from their very hearts for any of the sins committed by them.
What is amazing is that the Jains don’t only ask for forgiveness from human beings but also from all the living beings on Earth whom they have hurt knowingly or unknowingly. People do not take this fact seriously; they argue that what is the use of asking forgiveness from all the living beings that exist on earth. Herein lay the greatness of Jainism.
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Apart from strongly believing in Vegetarianism, Jainism strongly supports the idea of not even hurting an ant while conducting our day to day activities. Paryushan Parva comes once every year for a period of 8 days and the Jains consider these days as being extremely pious. These days give them an opportunity to free their souls from all the sins that they have committed during the whole year.
Jainism is in fact one of the greatest religions that exist on Earth. An individual who understands the depth of Jainism can only understand how great the religion is.