What Is Samayik in Jainism? Meaning and Full Vidhi

Samayik — from sama (equanimity) + aya (attainment) — is the first of the six avashyaka, the essential duties, and the fourth of the shikshavratas taken by a shravak. For its duration you undertake savajjam jogam paccakkhami: the renunciation of all sinful activity. For 48 minutes you are, in conduct, living as an ascetic does.

What it requires

Time: one muhurta, 48 minutes — two ghadi. Not less. The traditional preference is dawn or dusk, but samayik may be taken at any time.

The three requisites:

• Katasanu / *asan* — a mat of wool or cotton to sit on, insulating the ground so that beings there are not disturbed
• Charvalo (Svetambara) or pichhi (Digambara) — a soft whisk for gently clearing the place where you sit or set anything down
• Muhpatti — a cloth square held before the mouth while reciting, so the breath does not injure air-bodied beings

Conditions: clean clothes kept for the purpose, a quiet place, and no money, phone, ornaments or worldly business within reach.

The vidhi, in order

1. Prepare. Spread the asan. Use the charvalo to clear the place. Sit facing east or north.

2. Navkar and Panchindiya. Recite the Navkar Mantra, then Panchindiya Sutra, establishing the guru in whose presence the vow is taken.

3. Khamasamana. Bow, and formally ask leave to begin.

4. Iriyavahiyam.* Recite the Iriyavahiyam Sutra, atoning for harm caused to living beings while walking or moving to this place — the tradition does not let you begin a vow of non-violence without first accounting for the violence involved in getting there. This is followed by Tassa Uttari and Annattha*, and a kayotsarga of one Logassa (or four Navkars).

5. Take the vow. Recite the Karemi Bhante Sutra, the sutra that constitutes samayik:

Karemi bhante samaiyam, savajjam jogam paccakkhami…
"Bhante, I undertake samayik. I renounce all sinful activity, for as long as I remain in this vow."

6. Muhpatti padilehan. Inspect the muhpatti and the body in the prescribed manner — the practice of pratilekhana, examining before use so that no small being is harmed.

7. The 48 minutes. The vow is now in force. The time is spent on:

• Swadhyaya — study of scripture (the tradition's first preference)
• Japa — Navkar on a mala
• Dhyana — meditation, kayotsarga, contemplation of the twelve bhavanas
• Stavan and sajjhay

Not on: conversation, phones, sleeping, eating, or leaving the seat without necessity.

8. Conclude. When the 48 minutes are complete, recite the closing sequence and formally release the vow with "Samayik paryu" (Gujarati: samayik paaru), asking forgiveness for any lapse.

The 32 doshas

The tradition enumerates 32 faults that weaken a samayik without breaking it — 10 of mind, 10 of speech, 12 of body.

• Mind: ill-will, arrogance, thinking of business or reward, anxiety, distraction, doubting the practice's worth.
• Speech: idle talk, harsh or careless words, reciting sutras wrongly or in a hurry, humming.
• Body: sitting unsteadily, leaning against a wall, stretching, fidgeting, dozing, cracking the fingers, looking about.

They are worth reading in full, because most of them are the ordinary ways attention slips — the list exists to make those visible, not to add scruples.

Note on variation

The sequence above follows the widely used Svetambara Murtipujak vidhi. Sthanakvasi and Terapanth practice differs in the sutras used, and Digambara practice uses the pichhi and its own liturgy. Where your gachchha or sampraday prints its own vidhi book, follow that; the vow itself — Karemi Bhante, 48 minutes, equanimity — is the same everywhere.

Related: Pratikraman: what it is and how it is performed