r/Jainism

Hello,
I’m a Marwari jain girl who came to the US to study and explore the world and I am finally ready to get married. The issue is that according to the market, I don’t get any matches because I’m “too old”.
My family is primarily looking for me through their network but they don’t know people in the US as I don’t have much family here. I’m not sure what I should do next ?
I do have my non-negotiables and preferences well thought out but I don’t know where to begin looking.
Being from such a small community makes it really hard to think about my future and ideally I would want to be a part of the community but options seem grim. I do appreciate any questions or advice you have for me here !!

Jai Jinendra to all.....I am a Hindu who was learning about Jainism and I stumbled across the story of Acharya Mantunga ji and his imprisonment by a king. While being Imprisoned, he composed a very powerful Mantra called "Bhaktamar Stotra" dedicated to the first Tirathankar Adinath Bhagwan, which miraculously loosened the chains around his body and he got freed, Now my question is....Who really helped him? Lord Adinath? but this can't be the case because Siddhas after their liberation don't intervene in Samsara, DId any Jain devata help him? or it was his good karma due to his will and Bhakti he accumulated or some any other power?

Hi everyone, I really need some honest advice and support right now.

I’ve been stressing myself out so much about getting a job. I have a 2 year gap and I’ve been trying different domains, mostly trying to break into IT, but I’m just not able to. My family doesn’t want me to go out and work, but I’ve been fighting really hard for it.

At this point, I feel like I’m falling apart.

The stress is affecting my health badly. I’ve been having constant panic attacks, hormonal issues like PCOS, and diabetes. Yesterday I was admitted to the hospital with IV drips in both hands and even then all I could think about was getting a job.

I feel stuck in a really negative loop. I overthink so much that I ended up falling, broke my leg, and even had a head injury, and still my mind won’t stop obsessing over my career.

I don’t even know anymore, is it worth it.

I’m scared that if I don’t get a job right now, my career will be over, but at the same time I feel like I’m destroying my health trying.

I’ve tried to slow down but I just can’t. I literally just had a panic attack before writing this.

Has anyone been in a similar situation, how do you deal with this kind of pressure and fear, does it get better?

I genuinely feel like I need help.

Why is it that attachment to family is wrong and attachment to guru not wrong? Please help me understand.

Also why is it that you need to serve your guru and not your parents? Isn't that a type of seva?

Jai Jinendra.

A few months back, I tried to actually learn the Bhaktamara Stotra—not just recite it, but understand the mechanics of every verse. I’ve known it my whole life, but I realized I had never really read it.

The resources I found online were disappointing. Most were scans of old PDFs or translations from a century ago in very stiff English. I couldn't find anything that worked well on a phone, where you could tap a word for its meaning or switch between Sanskrit and simple English.

I wanted a way to bridge the gap between Manatunga ji’s 1300-year-old questions and how we live today. Since I couldn't find that resource, I started building it.

What is currently on the site (Digambara focus):

• Bhaktamara Stotra: All 48 verses with Sanskrit, IAST, Hindi/English translations, word-by-word breakdowns, and a "Today" reflection on the relevance of the verse.
• Tattvartha Sutra: All 33 sutras of Chapter 1.
• Samayasara: 12 selected gathas covering all 9 adhikaras.
• Tirthankara Directory: Bio pages for all 24 Tirthankaras.
• Foundations: Articles on Anekantavada, Karma vs. Fate, and the nature of Tirthankaras.
• Daily Path: Navkar Mantra, Chattari Mangalam, and Mangala Path.

The Roadmap:

• Audio: This is the most requested feature and the next priority.
• Expansion: Completing the rest of Tattvartha Sutra and expanding Samayasara.
• Texts: Adding Chhah Dhala, Ishtopadesh, and Ratnakaranda Shravakachara.
• New UI: Adding Hindi and Gujarati interface options.

A few disclaimers:

I’ve been building this solo and it hasn't been reviewed by scholars yet.

The Sanskrit text for the less-canonical Bhaktamara verses (33–48) likely has errors.

While the base texts are from Digambara editions, the English prose (Foundations and Reflections) was drafted with AI assistance and then edited by me. Treat this as a draft and verify it against your own sources.

I’m sharing it now because it's better to have it out in the open where people can flag errors than to keep polishing it in private.

Site: https://mayankpande88.github.io/jin-vani/

Source Code: GitHub

If you find a mistake in the translation, Sanskrit, or doctrine, there is a "Report an issue" button in the footer of every page. I’d appreciate any feedback or corrections you have.

I'm looking for any early Jain accounts of interaction with Buddhism when it first came about, preferably with the Buddha himself, or one of his main disciples like Ananda or someone.

Buddhist scriptures mention Jainism to some extent, and i know they came about from the same time and period, so i'm hoping to learn about Buddhism in a way that is less whitewashed.

Also how accurate are the earliest Jain scriptures estimated to be, is there any evidence of extreme moderate or minimal tampering in them from the time written to the time of now?

I hope nobody takes offense to this, i have no disrespect for Jainism

Hello all, I am looking out for jain dharamshala in Delhi and Agra. Please share the contact number if handy.

It’s mother’s day today plus my mom has her varshitap going on. Today is also aathum, so there are quite a few things she cannot have today.
I want to cook something for her beshnu in the evening. Any ideas? 🥹

Jai Jinendra!
I am a 28M Software developer. And I am seeking guidance from folks who have sorted their Dharm journey or atleast have optimized it in a sane way.

Let me first give a lil bit of context.

I see my job as the spiritual lab where:

• I can tame my subconcious by alert manoeuvering through ups and downs by complying to core principles of jainism that I study.
  • I have to interact with people, hear praises and taunts all the same and stay aware of not getting absorbed in it
  • Be it honesty, dedication, Staying Apramatt, staying in equinamity, etc. I can practice it all by staying vigilant.
• I can build and strengthen my neural pathways in brain for staying curious, understanding complex problems, solving problems, doing the right thing, staying alert, never giving in to lazyness.
• As long as I can derive value from the lab and its excercises, I think work is good for me.

I do not intend to take Deeksha, because at least right now, for me I feel below:

• For me it might be Avoidance disguised as vairagya. I think i still can leverage and learn a lot from the spiritual lab of work and sansaar.
• I also noticed that they have to take serious vows which at times they cannot follow coz of the world around them, often saying its the 5th aara and it is not possible to comply to all the vows. But taking vows and not being able to carry them is a bigger sin which I want to avoid. Being in a sangh means complying to the unsaid rules of it, and if a rule is anti dharm then I would rather be not bound by those unsaid peer pressure rules.
• I have also heard a lot of politics happening in the Sangh around monks.

So walking my own path, feels to be apt for me.

And that would require some money, hence I don't mind accumulating it without getting greedy about it.

I see Money as :

• A by product of the lab excercise that I do.
• A limited amount as requirement for survival and a lil extra to cover emergencies.
• Money actually is a facilitator for my dharm yatra just like how my body is.
  • I intend not to get attached with either, but I have to maintain it enough so that my spiritual journey is not hindered. In fact if a lil extra effort in these, helps in optimising my journey, then so be it.

If you are with me so far, and you agree to most bits, and you have sorted your life in these terms, please help me with some margdarshan.

The tricky bit for me rn is to strike the balance in my planning, I have three main things to do in order of priority

1. Study a lot of things, and for everything that I study, I genuinely want to go through the cycle of gyaan, darshan and charitra.
   • I am experimenting with systems to optimize my study, understanding, retention, revision and inculcating it in habit.
   • I want to do more and more of this, to me this is my life goal.
2. Leverage work as spiritual lab as long as I still derive meaning from it in terms of training myself with right ways to live in noise.
3. Earn and save money as a byproduct of that spiritual lab without getting greedy about it, and achieve Fire so that I can focus on my main priority of pt1 without compromising on health.

How do I strike balance between the three? I cannot ignore work and money, coz they have their significance in my journey as well! I cannot ignore the studying part, because it gives compounding returns, the more I study early, more I can inculcate in my habit and knowledge base, the more I can shed karmas and the more I can understand and connect the dots down the line.

The best that I can think is to get rid of the pt3, and focus on 1 and 2, with pt3 sorted, I can freely quit 2 when I feel I am ready for it and truly focus on pt1. I have saved up a good chunk, I actively manage my portfolio and am very mindful about it, here is a post detailing it, but I am not sure that at what point I can truly quit pt3, I have discussions with my dad about it but he seem to be adamant that I am very far away from that point so I should not worry about it. He is very spiritual and I trust his judgement, but he refuses to discuss a number and hence this dilemma.

I would really appreciate if you can help me with some suggestions to streamline my path forward.

I feel the itch to not be able to completely lock in on one goal. if pt3 is something to get rid of quickly, I would focus on my tech skills make job switches, do businesses or whatever required to quickly get rid of it. If pt3 is irrelevant, then I want to dig deep into pt1. Studying jainism is complicated, I dig deep, cross refer a lot of resources, try to make sense of things through alternate lenses of science, psychology, other philosophies as well.

I genuinely cannot go all in, if I do not have all the time in world to do it. But I still do all three in limited capacity.

My itch is that I want to go all in, utilize my full potential and not hold myself back.

Thanks for reading through this. Please feel free to DM me or comment here, whichever feels apt to you. 🙏🏻

Would jainism allow a hobby like boxing if I only punch bags, not people or living things, and am doing it for stress relief?

looking for something for my family

I know very little about Jainism.

What is the belief of when one eats something that was alive (ex. tofu)? Did the soybeans/tofu have a jiva? If so, does its jiva merge with ours?

Thank you.