(1) He must be firm in Jaina-faith; for, if he himself is a misbeliever, how can he make others true believer? The listeners by themselves possess less intellect, how would he make them true believer through some logic? And the right belief only is the basis of all religion.
(2) He should have developed the ability to deliver discourses on Shastras through the study of scriptures because without attaining such ability how can he be eligible for preachership?
(3) Through right knowledge, he should be able to discriminate the gist of all sorts of empirical (Vyavahara) and real (Nishchaya) etc. forms of expositions; for, if this be not there then if there be some description with some different purpose, there he might draw some other meaning and become instrumental in wrong conduct.
(4) He should be very fearful of going against the omniscient's commandment because if this be not so then bearing some purpose in mind he may preach against the 'Sutras' (Scripture) and create misery for Jivas. So is stated below :-
The one who possesses many virtues like forbearance, modesty, etc. and has knowledge of grammar, etc. but is a perverse discourser (wrong-interpreter) he is worth discarding. For instance, a snake though possessing costliest jewel, yet it is only a source of trouble in the world.
(5) He must not have any desire of accomplishing the temporal acts like earning livelihood, etc. by means of giving discourses on Shastras; for, if he has expectation then he can not preach (the truth) correctly; he simply makes it a source of accomplishing his objective by giving lectures according to the desire of some listeners. Moreover, the preacher's rank is higher than that of listeners; but, if the preacher be greedy, then the preacher will himself become inferior and the listeners will become superior.
(6) He should not have intense anger and pride, because the highly passioned (angry & haughty) person will be criticized, the listeners will be fearful of him, then how would they be benefitted by him?
(7) He should himself raise different questions and provide answers or if other people raise questions many times in different ways, then through soft (sweet) words he should clarify in such a way that their doubt is removed. In case he himself does not have the capacity to answer rightly then he should say that he himself lacks knowledge of it; for, if this be not so, the doubt of the listeners will not be removed. How will then there be good of them? And the glorification of Jaina-faith will also not be possible.
(8) He should not indulge in any immoral and publicly censurable activities, for he would become a place of laughter due to indulgence in publicly censurable deeds; who would then trust his words? He will bring bad name to Jaina faith.
(9) He should not be of low caste, not be a crippled fellow, not have hoarse voice, be of sweet tongue, should be influential so that he may be acceptable to the people; for, if it be not so then the orator's greatness will not be reflected in him. The above qualities are essential in the discourser. The same is stated in Atmanushasana :-
The one who is brilliant, has grasped the gist of all Shastras, is graceful in public life, desire-free, lustrous, dispassionate and one who knows the answer even before the question is raised, should have great forbearance for facing several questions, be influential, could win the hearts of others because of being free from the criticism of others as well as of his own by others, be store of virtues and whose words are clear and sweet - such a leader of the congregation should deliver the discourses.
Further, the special characteristic of a discourser is such that if he knows grammar, logic, etc. and possesses deep knowledge of voluminous Jaina Shastras then his oratorship will be more glorious. Moreover, in spite of all these qualities, if he has not acquired self-realisation through spiritual taste, then he is not likely to know the spirit (essence) of Jina Dharma (Omniscients' religion), he is a discourser merely traditionally. How can he explain the characteristic of the true Jina Dharma which is full of spiritual taste ? Therefore, if he be an enlightened self-Atma-Jnani then only he is a true preacher. In Pravachansara also it is stated that Agama-Jnana (knowledge of scripture), Tattvartha-Sharaddhana (faith in Jiva-Ajiva, etc. essential principles), Sanyarna Bhava (continence) - these three if are devoid of self-knowledge (Atma-Jnana), they are ineffective. Further, in Doha-Pahuda it is stated that :-
"Oh Pandey ! Oh Pandey! Oh Pandey! you are leaving the grain thrashing the husk only. You are satisfied in words and their literal meanings, but do not know the reality, therefore, you are assuredly a fool".
Moreover, in fourteen types of learnings, the metaphysics (spiritual science) is described as to be the supreme of all. Therefore, the discourser who is fond of the taste of spiritual science should be known as the discourser of the mystery of Jina-Dharma. Further, the discoursers who possess extra-ordinary intellectual power and are possesed of clairvoyance, telepathy, omniscience are to be known as the great preachers. Such should be known the distinctive traits of the discoursers.
So, if one gets the association of a discourser possessing these distinctive traits, it is highly beneficial and if not obtained then one ought to listen the Shastras from the mouth ofthose discoursers only who possess qualities of right belief, etc. It is desirable to listen to the Shastras from the mouth of Munis (monks) and Shravakas (householders) possessing such characteristics and it is not worth listening the Shastras customarily or with the greed of listening the Shastras from the mouth of sinful persons, who are not possessed of the right-belief, etc. traits. Also it is said that :-
The one who is attentive in obeying the omniscient's commandments, it is worthwhile for him to listen to the sermons from (the mouth of) a Nirgrantha (naked possessionless) true preceptor monk or should listen to religious discourses from the proper true believer Shravaka (householder) who interpretes the sermons of the true preceptor only.
Only such discourser, who preaches with religious attitude, can do good of the self and of other Jivas (capable souls) also, and one who preaches with passional attitude, harms himself as well as other Jivas.