Answer

In Jain Dharma, Atthai Tap is observed to purify the soul, reduce karmas, strengthen self-control, and develop detachment from the body and worldly comforts.

Atthai generally means fasting for eight days, usually with deep devotion, prayer, repentance, and spiritual reflection.

Explanation

We do Atthai Tap for several spiritual reasons:

• To shed karmas: Jainism teaches that tapasya helps reduce previously bound karmas when done with right faith and pure intention.
• To control desires: Food is one of the strongest bodily attachments. Fasting helps us practice discipline over taste, hunger, and comfort.
• To strengthen the soul: Atthai reminds us that the soul is separate from the body. The body feels hunger, but the soul’s true nature is purity, peace, and awareness.
• To practice repentance: During tapasya, one should reflect on past mistakes, ask forgiveness, and resolve to live with more ahimsa, truth, and restraint.
• To increase devotion: Atthai is not only about not eating. It should be accompanied by samayik, pratikraman, swadhyay, mantra, stavan, and thoughts of Tirthankars.

Spiritual Understanding

In Jain Dharma, fasting is meaningful only when it reduces passions like anger, pride, deceit, and greed. If Atthai is done with ego, show-off, or competition, its spiritual value becomes limited.

The true purpose of Atthai Tap is not to punish the body, but to awaken the soul.

Takeaway

We do Atthai Tap to move closer to the soul’s pure nature by practicing self-control, detachment, devotion, and karma-shedding. The outer fast is important, but the inner purification is even more important.